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Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: ERRORS in rebuttal to "Pandora's Promise" [View all]bananas
(27,509 posts)6. DOE: "Virtually any combination of plutonium isotopes...can be used to make a nuclear weapon."
PamW's post is full of so much bullshit it's ridiculous.
PamW says:
It is only the Plutonium-239 (Pu-239) isotope of Plutonium that is "fissile" and can be nuclear bomb fuel.
PamW is wrong:
http://www.ccnr.org/plute.html
Reactor-Grade and Weapons-Grade Plutonium in Nuclear Explosives
~ excerpted from the US Department of Energy Publication ~
Nonproliferation and Arms Control Assessment of Weapons-Usable Fissile Material Storage and Excess Plutonium Disposition Alternatives
(pages 37-39)
January 1997
Virtually any combination of plutonium isotopes -- the different forms of an element having different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei -- can be used to make a nuclear weapon.
<snip>
All of these grades of plutonium can be used to make nuclear weapons. The only isotopic mix of plutonium which cannot realistically be used for nuclear weapons is nearly pure plutonium-238, which generates so much heat that the weapon would not be stable. (International rules require equal levels of safeguards for all grades of plutonium except plutonium containing more than 80 percent plutonium-238, which need not be safeguarded.)
<snip>
In short, reactor-grade plutonium is weapons-usable, whether by unsophisticated proliferators or by advanced nuclear weapon states. Theft of separated plutonium, whether weapons-grade or reactor-grade, would pose a grave security risk.
<snip>
Reactor-Grade and Weapons-Grade Plutonium in Nuclear Explosives
~ excerpted from the US Department of Energy Publication ~
Nonproliferation and Arms Control Assessment of Weapons-Usable Fissile Material Storage and Excess Plutonium Disposition Alternatives
(pages 37-39)
January 1997
Virtually any combination of plutonium isotopes -- the different forms of an element having different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei -- can be used to make a nuclear weapon.
<snip>
All of these grades of plutonium can be used to make nuclear weapons. The only isotopic mix of plutonium which cannot realistically be used for nuclear weapons is nearly pure plutonium-238, which generates so much heat that the weapon would not be stable. (International rules require equal levels of safeguards for all grades of plutonium except plutonium containing more than 80 percent plutonium-238, which need not be safeguarded.)
<snip>
In short, reactor-grade plutonium is weapons-usable, whether by unsophisticated proliferators or by advanced nuclear weapon states. Theft of separated plutonium, whether weapons-grade or reactor-grade, would pose a grave security risk.
<snip>
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Yes, the EIA publish data on expected energy future use AND all sources of energy.
happyslug
Nov 2013
#1
It was EXACTLY the level of journalistic quality that I would have expected from "The Nation".
caraher
Nov 2013
#3
There are four primary problem area with nuclear technology (not counting social and systems issues)
kristopher
Nov 2013
#9
DOE: "Virtually any combination of plutonium isotopes...can be used to make a nuclear weapon."
bananas
Nov 2013
#6
No, PamW; Richard Garwin, John Holdren, and President Obama all know you're wrong.
bananas
Dec 2013
#37
"If you have any type of plutonium in sufficient quantities you can make a bomb." Selden 2009
kristopher
Dec 2013
#59