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How is plutonium separated from other materials found with it?
To be usable, plutonium would need to be separated from the other products in spent fuel. This process, known as reprocessing, uses chemicals to separate plutonium from uranium and other fission products. Once separated, plutonium oxide can be mixed with uranium oxide to produce mixed oxide or MOX fuel.
How is plutonium extracted?
PUREX, the current standard method, is an acronym standing for Plutonium and Uranium Recovery by EXtraction. The PUREX process is a liquid-liquid extraction method used to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, to extract uranium and plutonium, independent of each other, from the fission products.
Can plutonium be broken down?
The isotope plutonium-238 is not fissile but can undergo nuclear fission easily with fast neutrons as well as alpha decay.
What is plutonium found in?
December 14, 1940
Plutonium/Discovered
What is separated plutonium?
Many metric tons of plutonium are currently contained in spent nuclear fuel around the world. To be usable, plutonium needs to be separated from the other products in spent fuel through a method called reprocessing. Reprocessing separates plutonium from uranium and fission products through chemical means.
How Pu is separated from U?
The U–Pu separation by chromatography has been used in various fields: environmental solids and water [1], spent fuel and irradiated target reprocessing [2, 3], waste management [4]. On the other hand, for analytical purposes TEVA and UTEVA resins are widely used to separate U and Pu [8, 9].
How is plutonium formed naturally?
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.
How is plutonium created as a chemical element?
To create Plutonium as a distinct chemical element, a scientist has to bombard natural uranium (U-238) with neutrons; it can then be separated from Uranium by a series of chemical reactions. Fast neutrons slowly lose kinetic energy.
What happens to the density of plutonium when it melts?
Unlike most materials, plutonium increases in density when it melts, by 2.5%, but the liquid metal exhibits a linear decrease in density with temperature. Near the melting point, the liquid plutonium has very high viscosity and surface tension compared to other metals.
How is plutonium transported in the United States?
The usual transportation of plutonium is through the more stable plutonium oxide in a sealed package. A typical transport consists of one truck carrying one protected shipping container, holding a number of packages with a total weight varying from 80 to 200 kg of plutonium oxide.
How does the presence of plutonium affect a reactor?
Plutonium-240 exhibits a high rate of spontaneous fission, raising the neutron flux of any sample containing it. The presence of plutonium-240 limits a plutonium sample’s usability for weapons or its quality as reactor fuel, and the percentage of plutonium-240 determines its grade ( weapons-grade, fuel-grade, or reactor-grade).