Title: Plutonium - World Nuclear Association
Headings: Plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium and nuclear power
Plutonium and americium
Plutonium-238
Plutonium and weapons
Resources of plutonium
Toxicity and health effects
Notes & references
Notes
References
General sources
You may also be interested in
Poland
USA: Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Vietnam

Content: There are several tonnes of plutonium in our biosphere, a legacy of atmospheric weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s. Plutonium-238 is a vital power source for deep space missions. In practical terms, there are two different kinds of plutonium to be considered: reactor-grade and weapons-grade. The first is recovered as a by-product of typical used fuel from a nuclear reactor, after the fuel has been irradiated ('burned') for about three years. The second is made specially for the military purpose, and is recovered from uranium fuel that has been irradiated for only 2-3 months in a plutonium production reactor. The two kinds differ in their isotopic composition but must both be regarded as a potential proliferation risk, and managed accordingly. Plutonium, both that routinely made in power reactors and that from dismantled nuclear weapons, is a valuable energy source when integrated into the nuclear fuel cycle. In a conventional nuclear reactor, one kilogram of Pu-239 can produce sufficient heat to generate nearly 8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Plutonium and nuclear power
Plutonium is formed in nuclear power reactors from uranium-238 by neutron capture.