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plutonium Definition

plu·to·nium (plo̵̅o̅ tōnē əm)

noun

a radioactive, metallic chemical element, one of the actinides, found in trace quantities in native uranium ores and produced by bombarding uranium with deuterons: symbol, Pu; at. no., 94: its most important isotope (plutonium-239) is used in nuclear weapons and as a reactor fuel

Etymology: ModL, after Pluto (planet) + -ium: so named (1942) by G. T. Glenn T(heodore) Seaborg, E. M. Edwin Mattison McMillan, A. C. Wahl (1917-2006), & J. W. Kennedy (1916-57), U.S. physicists who isolated it (1940), because next to neptunium, as Pluto comes next to Neptune

plutonium Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • reprocess: Japan's domestic atomic power program is based on reprocessed plutonium.
  • extract: President Gerald Ford in the 1970s even offered to sell him equipment which would allow Iran to extract plutonium from reactor fuel.
  • produce: Tons of plutonium produced by civilian nuclear plants also are circulating around the world.

Preposition: for

bomb: North Korea is also restarting its reactor, allowing it to produce plutonium for several more bombs within a year.

Adjective modifier

  • separated: More than 50 tons of separated plutonium is still in storage at Sellafield.
  • excess: Power stations using modern 'fast ' nuclear reactors could use up all the worlds excess military plutonium.
  • Russian: Approximately 36 tons of Russian plutonium is scheduled for disposal in FY2003.
  • enough: Once enough plutonium has been produced, Iran could build nuclear weapons in a short time.
  • civil: An additional four tons of civil plutonium will be added to the military stockpile.

Modifies a noun

  • shipment: Finally, we are also calling for the end of plutonium shipments from Japan.
  • stockpile: It is now being used for " an experiment " to burn-up a small part of France's plutonium stockpile.
  • nitrate: The present average of two or three shipments a year, each of 500 liters of plutonium nitrate, will double from 1994.
  • disposition: The US Congress has appropriated more than $ 200 million for cooperation with Russia's plutonium disposition program.
  • reactor: The first British plutonium reactor went critical in October 1950.
  • oxide: The shock wave from the explosion would compress the plutonium oxide sufficiently to produce some energy from nuclear fission.

Noun used with modifier

  • weapons-grade: The United States plans to use two technologies to dispose of surplus weapons-grade plutonium.
  • reactor-grade: Inhalation of 2 to 4 mg of reactor-grade plutonium may cause death within about a month from pulmonary fibrosis or pulmonary edema.
  • surplus: Over the life of the program, the US will dispose of enough surplus plutonium for thousands of nuclear weapons.
  • weapon: A heavy water plant could support a reactor for producing weapons grade plutonium.
  • grade: A heavy water plant could support a reactor for producing weapons grade plutonium.

Browse dictionary entries near plutonium

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