All Topics  
Plutonium-238

 
Plutonium 238

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Plutonium-238
 
 
  Topics Plutonium-238 Topic Home

Plutonium-238, is a radioactive isotope of plutonium
Plutonium

Plutonium is a rare transuranic radioactive chemical element. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when plutonium oxide....
 with a half-life of 87.7 years and is a very powerful alpha emitter. Because of its high level of alpha activity, it is used for radioisotope thermoelectric generator
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator is an electrical generator which obtains its power from radioactive decay. In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactivity material is converted into electricity by the Seebeck effect using an array of thermocouples....
s and radioisotope heater unit
Radioisotope heater unit

Radioisotope heater units are small devices that provide heat through radioactive decay. They are similar to tiny radioisotope thermoelectric generators , and normally provide about one watt of heat each, derived from the decay of a few grams of plutonium 238, although other radioactive isotopes could be used....
s.

Plutonium-238 was the first isotope
Isotope

Isotopes are any of the different types of atoms of the same chemical element, each having a different atomic mass . Isotopes of an element have atomic nucleus with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutron....
 of plutonium to be discovered.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Plutonium-238'
Start a new discussion about 'Plutonium-238'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Plutonium Pellet
Plutonium-238, is a radioactive isotope of plutonium
Plutonium

Plutonium is a rare transuranic radioactive chemical element. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when plutonium oxide....
 with a half-life of 87.7 years and is a very powerful alpha emitter. Because of its high level of alpha activity, it is used for radioisotope thermoelectric generator
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator is an electrical generator which obtains its power from radioactive decay. In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactivity material is converted into electricity by the Seebeck effect using an array of thermocouples....
s and radioisotope heater unit
Radioisotope heater unit

Radioisotope heater units are small devices that provide heat through radioactive decay. They are similar to tiny radioisotope thermoelectric generators , and normally provide about one watt of heat each, derived from the decay of a few grams of plutonium 238, although other radioactive isotopes could be used....
s.

Plutonium-238 was the first isotope
Isotope

Isotopes are any of the different types of atoms of the same chemical element, each having a different atomic mass . Isotopes of an element have atomic nucleus with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutron....
 of plutonium to be discovered. It was synthesized by Glenn Seaborg and associates in 1941 by bombarding uranium-238 with deuterons. Neptunium-238
Isotopes of neptunium

Neptunium has no stable isotopes. A standard atomic mass cannot be given.19 neptunium radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 237Np with a half-life of 2.14 million years, Neptunium-236 with a half-life of 154,000 years, and 235Np with a half-life of 396.1 days....
 is made as an intermediate product, which then decays to form plutonium-238. Plutonium-238 decays to uranium-234
Uranium-234

Uranium-234 is an Isotopes of uranium. In natural uranium and uranium ore, 234U occurs as an indirect decay product of Uranium-238, but it makes up only 0.0055% of the raw uranium because its half-life of just 246,000 years is only about 1/18,000 as long as the half-life of 238U....
 and then further along the radium series
Decay chain

In nuclear science, the decay chain refers to the radioactive decay of different discrete radioactive Decay product as a chained series of transformations....
 to lead-206.

Today, plutonium-238 is usually prepared by the irradiation of neptunium-237, a minor actinide produced in nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is uncontrolled causing an explosion....
s, that can be recovered from spent nuclear fuel
Spent nuclear fuel

File:Spent nuclear fuel hanford.jpgSpent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor to the point where it is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction....
 during reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing

Nuclear reprocessing separates components of spent nuclear fuel such as:...
, or by the irradiation of americium
Americium

Americium is a synthetic element that has the symbol Am and atomic number 95. A radioactive decay metallic element, americium is an actinide that was obtained in 1944 by Glenn T....
 in a reactor. In both cases, the targets are subjected to a chemical treatment, including dissolution in nitric acid
Nitric acid

Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosion and toxic strong acid that can cause severe burns....
 to extract the plutonium-238. A 100 kg sample of light water reactor
Light water reactor

The light water reactor or LWR is a type of thermal reactor, a reactor that uses a neutron moderator to reduce the speed of neutrons to low velocity thermal neutrons....
 fuel that has been irradiated for three years contains only about 700 grams of neptunium-237, and the neptunium must be extracted selectively.

The United States currently has limited facilities to produce plutonium-238. Since 1993, the U.S. has purchased all of the plutonium-238 it has used in space probes from Russia. 16.5 kilograms total have been purchased.

See also

  • Atomic battery
    Atomic battery

    The terms atomic battery, nuclear battery, tritium battery and radioisotope battery are used to describe a device which uses the emissions from a radioactive isotope to generate electricity....


External links