THE ROLE OF PLUTONIUM AS A RESOURCE NOW AND IN THE FUTURE

To appreciate the role of plutonium as a resource now and in the future, we need to examine this remarkable element in the context of three separate and different applications. These involve three of the several isotopes of plutonium, 238Pu 239Pu and 240Pu. All of these are alpha-emitters with half-lives of approximately 89 years for 238, roughly 24,000 years for 239, and about 6,500 years for 240. Only 239Pu is fissionable, it is the isotope of the so-called \"weapons grade\" plutonium. Non-fissionable but strongly alpha emitting isotope 240 predominates in \"reactor grade\" plutonium.