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Plutonium-239 present in reactor fuel can absorb neutrons and fission just as uranium-235 can. Since plutonium-239 is constantly being created in the reactor core during operation, the use of plutonium-239 as nuclear fuel in power plants can occur without reprocessing of spent fuel; the plutonium-239 is fissioned in the same fuel rods in which ...
Radioactive isotope table "lists ALL radioactive nuclei with a half-life greater than 1000 years", incorporated in the list above. The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear physics properties F.G. Kondev et al. 2021 Chinese Phys. C 45 030001. The PDF of this article lists the half-lives of all known radioactives nuclides.
Plutonium-244 is the most stable isotope of plutonium, with a half-life of about 80 million years. It is not significantly produced in nuclear reactors because 243 Pu has a short half-life, but some is produced in nuclear explosions. 244 Pu has been found in interstellar space [13] and has the second longest half-life of any non-primordial ...
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] The ratio of plutonium-239 to uranium at the Cigar Lake Mine uranium deposit ranges from 2.4 × 10 −12 to 44 × 10 −12. [56]
Weapons-grade plutonium is defined as being predominantly Pu-239, typically about 93% Pu-239. [24] Pu-240 is produced when Pu-239 absorbs an additional neutron and fails to fission. Pu-240 and Pu-239 are not separated by reprocessing. Pu-240 has a high rate of spontaneous fission, which can cause a nuclear weapon to pre-detonate.
The plutonium-238 used in these RTGs has a half-life of 87.74 years, in contrast to the 24,110 year half-life of plutonium-239 used in nuclear weapons and reactors. A consequence of the shorter half-life is that plutonium-238 is about 275 times more radioactive than plutonium-239 (i.e. 17.3 curies (640 GBq)/g compared to 0.063 curies (2.3 GBq ...
239 U has a half-life of about 23.45 minutes and beta decays into neptunium-239, ... 239 Np then, with a half-life of about 2.356 days, beta-decays to plutonium-239.
Nuclear fission product (only those from uranium-235 or plutonium-239) (only those with a half-life over one day are shown); IM Industry or medically used ...