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plutonium
[ ploo-toh-nee-uhm ]
noun
- a transuranic element with a fissile isotope of mass number 239 plutonium 239 that can be produced from non-fissile uranium 238, as in a breeder reactor. : Pu; : 94.
plutonium
/ ːˈəʊɪə /
noun
- a highly toxic metallic transuranic element. It occurs in trace amounts in uranium ores and is produced in a nuclear reactor by neutron bombardment of uranium-238. The most stable and important isotope, plutonium-239 , readily undergoes fission and is used as a reactor fuel in nuclear power stations and in nuclear weapons. Symbol: Pu; atomic no: 94; half-life of 239Pu: 24 360 years; valency: 3, 4, 5, or 6; relative density (alpha modification): 19.84; melting pt: 640°C; boiling pt: 3230°C
plutonium
/ ̅̅-ō′ŧ-ə /
- A silvery, radioactive metallic element of the actinide series that has the highest atomic number of all naturally occurring elements. It is found in minute amounts in uranium ores and is produced artificially by bombarding uranium with neutrons. It is absorbed by bone marrow and is highly poisonous. Plutonium is used in nuclear weapons and as a fuel in nuclear reactors. Its longest-lived isotope is Pu 244 with a half-life of 80 million years. Atomic number 94; melting point 640°C; boiling point 3,228°C; specific gravity 19.84; valence 3, 4, 5, 6.
- See Periodic Table
plutonium
Notes
yvlog History and Origins
Origin of plutonium1
yvlog History and Origins
Origin of plutonium1
Compare Meanings
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Example Sentences
The government says it will dispose of its 140 tonnes of radioactive plutonium - currently stored at a secure facility at Sellafield in Cumbria.
In 1974, India shocked the world by detonating a nuclear device, drawing outrage from Canada, which accused India of extracting plutonium from a Canadian reactor, a gift intended solely for peaceful use.
However, says author Steve Olson, who wrote about the Manhattan Project’s plutonium reactors in “The Apocalypse Factory,” “that is not going to happen with any Republican administration if Republicans continue on their current path.”
That is comforting because Sellafield, in Cumbria, is the temporary home to the vast majority of the UK’s radioactive nuclear waste, as well as the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium.
Excluding France and Russia, the U.S. has been successfully clamping down on nuclear proliferation ever since India used Canadian-gotten plutonium for its 1974 atomic bomb test.
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