Title: Plutonium | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: Plutonium (revised)
Plutonium (revised)
PLUTONIUM (REVISED)
Overview
SYMBOL
Pu
ATOMIC NUMBER
94
ATOMIC MASS
244.0642
Discovery and naming
Physical properties
Chemical properties
Occurrence in nature
Isotopes
Extraction
Uses
Using fuel to make fuel
Compounds
Health effects
Plutonium
Plutonium
Bibliography
plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium
plutonium

Content: This isotope does not undergo fission, but does undergo another kind of change. It soaks up neutrons and changes into plutonium-239: The plutonium that is formed can be removed from the reactor. It is then purified and re-used as fuel in another nuclear reactor. What an amazing process this is! One could compare it to the burning of coal to make electricity. In a coal-fired power plant, coal is burned to boil water. Steam runs turbines that make electricity, but when the coal burns up, it's gone. In a nuclear reactor, the breakdown of uranium-235 atoms gives off energy like the burning of coal. Over time, most of the uranium-235 atoms are used up.