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Content: Then the pieces must be forced together quickly and in such a geometry that the generation timefor fission is extremely short. This leads to an almost instantaneous buildup of the chain reaction, creating a powerful explosion before the pieces can fly apart. Two hemispheres which are explosively forced into contact can produce a bomb such as the one detonated at Hiroshima. Index
Nuclear weapon concepts
Nuclear energy concepts
Fission concepts
HyperPhysics*****Nuclear 
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Plutonium Bomb
Plutonium-239 is a fissionable isotopeand can be used to make a nuclear fission bomb similar to that produced with uranium-235. The bomb which was dropped at Nagasakiwas a plutonium bomb. Not enough Pu-239 exists in nature to make a major weapons supply, but it is easily produced in breeder reactors. In the U.S., there are reactors at Savannah River Plant, S.C., and at Hanford, Washington which are classified as plutonium production reactors. They breed plutonium by surrounding a fission reactor with a uranium-238 "blanket" to make use of the breeding reactionbetween neutrons and U-238. Once the plutonium is produced, it is easily separated from the other fission products by chemical means, so that less technology is needed to produce a nuclear weapon if you have a breeder reactor. This makes plutonium a greater source of concern for weapons proliferation, because reactors which appear to be just electric power generators can be breeding plutonium for weapons along with the power production.