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Trace amounts of plutonium-238, plutonium-239, plutonium-240, and plutonium-244 can be found in nature. Small traces of plutonium-239, a few parts per trillion, and its decay products are naturally found in some concentrated ores of uranium, [54] such as the natural nuclear fission reactor in Oklo, Gabon. [55]
This isotope has been found in lunar soil, [5] meteorites, [6] and in the Oklo natural reactor. [7] However, one study on plutonium in marine sediments indicates that the atomic bomb fallout accounts for 66% of the 239 Pu and 59% 240 Pu in the English Channel.
Plutonium (Pu, atomic number 94), first synthesized in 1940, is another such element. It is the element with the largest number of protons (atomic number) to occur in nature, but it does so in such tiny quantities that it is far more practical to synthesize it. Plutonium is known mainly for its use in atomic bombs and nuclear reactors. [4]
Watchdogs are raising new concerns about legacy contamination in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home to a renewed effort to manufacture key components for nuclear weapons. A ...
Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 is also used for that purpose. Plutonium-239 is also one of the three main isotopes demonstrated usable as fuel in thermal spectrum nuclear reactors, along with uranium-235 and uranium-233. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,110 years. [1]
A group of researchers is warning that testing around a Los Alamos, New Mexico neighborhood has revealed what it calls "alarmingly high levels of plutonium." But to Department of Energy officials ...
The plutonium storage area flooded and corrosion later was found on some containers that's since “been addressed,” said Armstrong, the field office manager.
The actinide series is a group of chemical elements with atomic numbers ranging from 89 to 102, [note 1] including notable elements such as uranium and plutonium.The nuclides (or isotopes) thorium-232, uranium-235, and uranium-238 occur primordially, while trace quantities of actinium, protactinium, neptunium, and plutonium exist as a result of radioactive decay and (in the case of neptunium ...