Plutonium

Plutonium from nuclear weapons is in the form of metallic pits that ... contain small amounts of other classified materials, and up to one percent gallium. Gallium is a metal that is used as an alloy in the plutonium pits. For plutonium to be made into a reactor fuel it must be purified and converted into an oxide form. Acids and solvents can be used to dissolve the plutonium pits. The plutonium must then be purified and converted to an oxide. This aqueous process creates gallons upon gallons of new liquid radioactive waste.

Source:

nirs.org

Plutonium is a member of the actinide family. The actinides occur in Row 7 of the periodic table. The periodic table is a chart that shows how chemical elements are related to one another. The actinides get their name from element 89, actinium, which is sometimes considered the first member of the family. Plutonium is ... called a transuranium element. The term transuranium means "beyond uranium." Elements with atomic numbers greater than that of uranium (92) are called transuranium elements.

Source:

chemistryexplained.com

Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,360 years, and is produced by bombarding uranium-238 with slow neutrons. This forms neptunium-239, which in turn emits a beta particle and forms plutonium-239. Plutonium is the most economically important of the transuranium elements because plutonium-239 readily undergoes fission and can be both used and produced in quantity in nuclear reactors (see NUCLEAR ENERGY,). It is ... used in making nuclear weapons. It is an extremely hazardous poison due to its high radioactivity (see RADIATION EFFECTS, BIOLOGICAL,). Plutonium-238 has been used to power equipment on the moon by means of the heat it emits.

Source:

history.com

Plutonium has at least 15 different isotopes, all of which are radioactive. The most common ones are Pu-238, Pu-239, and Pu-240. Pu-238 has a half-life of 87.7 years. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,100, and Pu-240 has a half-life 6,560 years. The isotope Pu-238 gives off useable heat, because of its radioactivity.

Source:

epa.gov

Plutonium, one of the two fissile elements used to fuel nuclear explosives, is not found in significant quantities in nature. Plutonium can only be made in sufficient quantities in a nuclear reactor. It must be “bred,” or produced, one atomic nucleus at a time by bombarding 238 U with neutrons to produce the isotope 239 U, which beta decays (half-life 23 minutes), emitting an electron to become the (almost equally) radioactive 239 Np (neptunium). The neptunium isotope again beta decays (half-life 56 hours) to 239 Pu, the desired fissile material. The only proven and practical source for the large quantities of neutrons needed to make plutonium at a reasonable speed is a nuclear reactor in which a controlled but self-sustaining 235 U fission chain reaction takes place. The graphite-moderated, air- or gas-cooled reactor using natural uranium as its fuel was first built in 1942.

Source:

fas.org

Plutonium can exist in oxidation states from III to VI under aqueous conditions, and different oxidation states predominate in different environments (Ibrahim and Culp, 1989). Dissimilatory plutonium reduction has not been documented, but Rusin et al (1994) reported the solubilization of plutonium oxides from soil by iron-reducing bacteria, which may represent reductive dissolution of plutonium. Yong and Macaskie (1998) demonstrated the potential for a Citrobacter sp. expressing surface phosphatase activity to mineralize Pu(IV) in an insoluble complex with lanthanum and phosphate. Microbacterium flavescens JG-9 was shown to accumulate Pu(IV) via siderophore-mediated uptake (John et al, 2001). Aspergillus niger grown on a solid medium containing plutonium transported plutonium from the medium to aerial spores (Beckert and Au, 1976). Immobilization of soluble plutonium using bacteria as biosorbents has been explored (Meyer et al, 1979; Panak et al, 2001).

Source:

umbbd.msi.umn.edu