Plutonium is a highly radioactive silvery-white metal, which is used in most nuclear weapons. It is the chemical element with the atomic number 94 and chemical symbol Pu.
Plutonium was first produced and isolated on December 14, 1940 by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg and his co-workers at the University of California, Berkeley by bombarding uranium with deuterons.
In 1941, Glenn T. Seaborg named the newly created element plutonium after Pluto. This was in keeping with the tradition of naming elements after newly discovered planets, following uranium, which was named after Uranus, and neptunium, which was named after Neptune.
Plutonium was first produced and isolated on December 14, 1940 by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg and his co-workers at the University of California, Berkeley by bombarding uranium with deuterons.
 |
| Twenty micrograms of pure plutonium hydroxide |
In 1941, Glenn T. Seaborg named the newly created element plutonium after Pluto. This was in keeping with the tradition of naming elements after newly discovered planets, following uranium, which was named after Uranus, and neptunium, which was named after Neptune.
Nuclear physicist Nicholas Kemmer suggested the atomic symbol "Pu" for plutonium deliberately as a joke because it resembled "P.U." (an expression of disgust at a foul smell), yet no one objected, and it made it onto the periodic table.
The Hanford Atomic Facility in the U.S. state of Washington was the first plutonium-production reactor. It produced its first plutonium on November 6, 1944 and would go on to create more for almost the entire American nuclear arsenal.
The Hanford site represents two-thirds of US'a high-level radioactive waste by volume.
The Atomic Age begins when the USA successfully detonated a plutonium-based nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945.
The scientist who analysed the plutonium for the first atomic bomb was called Mr Doom.
In 1958 Cecil Kelley, a chemical operator at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, was killed after plutonium in a mixing tank went supercritical, exposing him to over 30Gy of hard radiation. After 24 hours his bone marrow contained no red blood cells.
The United Kingdom has invested in the world's biggest stockpile of plutonium (well over 100 tonnes) that could either provide the country with thousands of years of unlimited energy or become a massive financial and environmental white elephant as nobody can agree on what to do with it.
The most common plutonium isotope is plutonium-239. It takes 24,110 years for half of a sample of plutonium-239 to decay, which is called its half-life.
Plutonium-238 is used as a heat source in nuclear batteries to produce electricity in devices such as unmanned spacecraft and interplanetary probes.
Plutonium has some awkward physical properties. The reactivity and toxicity of plutonium make it difficult to handle and its poison absorbs into bones.
It leaves your body very slowly in the urine and feces. If you were to inhale some plutonium today, much of it would still be in your body hundreds of years later.
Ingestion or inhalation of large amounts may cause acute radiation poisoning and possibly death. However no human being is known to have passed away because of inhaling or ingesting plutonium, and many people have measurable amounts of plutonium in their bodies.
The demon core was a 6.2-kilogram (14 lb) subcritical mass of plutonium measuring 89 millimetres (3.5 in) in diameter, which was involved in two criticality accidents in the mid 1940s. Both incidents included a slip of the wrist, resulting in a millisecond long burst of radiation. Blue light was emitted in the second incident.
The Hanford Atomic Facility in the U.S. state of Washington was the first plutonium-production reactor. It produced its first plutonium on November 6, 1944 and would go on to create more for almost the entire American nuclear arsenal.
The Hanford site represents two-thirds of US'a high-level radioactive waste by volume.
The Atomic Age begins when the USA successfully detonated a plutonium-based nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945.
 |
| A ring of weapons-grade 99.96% pure electrorefined plutonium, enough for one bomb core |
The scientist who analysed the plutonium for the first atomic bomb was called Mr Doom.
In 1958 Cecil Kelley, a chemical operator at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, was killed after plutonium in a mixing tank went supercritical, exposing him to over 30Gy of hard radiation. After 24 hours his bone marrow contained no red blood cells.
The United Kingdom has invested in the world's biggest stockpile of plutonium (well over 100 tonnes) that could either provide the country with thousands of years of unlimited energy or become a massive financial and environmental white elephant as nobody can agree on what to do with it.
The most common plutonium isotope is plutonium-239. It takes 24,110 years for half of a sample of plutonium-239 to decay, which is called its half-life.
Plutonium-238 is used as a heat source in nuclear batteries to produce electricity in devices such as unmanned spacecraft and interplanetary probes.
Plutonium has some awkward physical properties. The reactivity and toxicity of plutonium make it difficult to handle and its poison absorbs into bones.
It leaves your body very slowly in the urine and feces. If you were to inhale some plutonium today, much of it would still be in your body hundreds of years later.
Ingestion or inhalation of large amounts may cause acute radiation poisoning and possibly death. However no human being is known to have passed away because of inhaling or ingesting plutonium, and many people have measurable amounts of plutonium in their bodies.
The demon core was a 6.2-kilogram (14 lb) subcritical mass of plutonium measuring 89 millimetres (3.5 in) in diameter, which was involved in two criticality accidents in the mid 1940s. Both incidents included a slip of the wrist, resulting in a millisecond long burst of radiation. Blue light was emitted in the second incident.
No comments:
Post a Comment