User talk:Periodic table chemist

plutonium:

What is it used for? Plutonium-238 generates significant heat through its radioactive decay process, which makes it useful as a heat source for sensitive electrical components in satellites, as a well as a power source (for example, battery power) for satellites. Plutonium-239 is used to make nuclear weapons.

A: Plutonium is, in fact, a metal very like uranium. If you hold it [in] your hand (and I've held tons of it my hand, a pound or two at a time), it's heavy, like lead. It's toxic, like lead or arsenic, but not much more so.

Plutonium generally isn't found in nature. Trace elements of plutonium are found in naturally occurring uranium ores. Here, it is formed in a way similar to neptunium: by irradiation of natural uranium with neutrons followed by beta decay. Primarily, however, plutonium is a byproduct of the nuclear power industry.

Plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU)—known as weapons usable material-are considered to pose the greatest proliferation risk because they are used to produce nuclear weapons. In 1993, IAEA established a database to record incidents involving illicit trafficking in nuclear materials.

Since the energy per fission from plutonium-239 and uranium-235 is about the same, the theoretical fuel value of fissile plutonium can be put at $5,600 per kilogram. Reactor-grade plutonium also contains non-fissile isotopes, reducing its value to about $4,400 per kilogram. Plutonium is a radioactive element that can be used for research and nuclear applications. It's worth about $4,000 per gram (although you can expect various regulatory agencies to take a close look at you if you start accumulating it).

Nuclear weapons-related plutonium production requires a reactor and other facilities dedicated to plutonium separation. That is why weapons-grade plutonium probably costs hundreds of dollars per gram, if not more. That is,. hundreds of thousands of dollars per kilogram – and ten(or more) times more expensive than gold.

Burning plutonium eliminates unwanted Pu-239 isotope but depending on the reactor system producing different amounts of heavier plutonium isotopes and transplutonium elements.

Under normal nuclear power plant operation, the plutonium in spent reactor fuel contains roughly 24 percent plutonium-240; such plutonium is often referred to as "reactor-grade." However, essentially all isotopic mixtures of plutonium—including reactor-grade plutonium—can be used for nuclear weapons.

Americium-241
Americium is a silvery, shiny radioactive metal. Americium is commonly used in smoke alarms, but has few other uses. It has the potential to be used in spacecraft batteries in the future. Currently plutonium is used but availability is poor so alternatives are being considered.