• meco03211@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Is there a functional difference between “weapons grade” plutonium and the plutonium that would be used in a nuclear reactor?

    • Kirp123@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Yes.

      From Wikipedia:

      Plutonium is identified as either weapons-grade, fuel-grade, or reactor-grade based on the percentage of 240Pu that it contains. Weapons-grade plutonium contains less than 7% 240Pu. Fuel-grade plutonium contains 7%–19%, and power reactor-grade contains 19% or more 240Pu. Supergrade plutonium, with less than 4% of 240Pu, is used in United States Navy weapons stored near ship and submarine crews, due to its lower radioactivity.

      Weapon Grade Plutonium has lower concentration because Plutonium has a high rate of spontaneous decay which means it leads to issues with detonations in bombs.

    • minnow@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Yes, “weapons grade” has a higher purity being almost entirely made of fissile isotope Pu-239

      “Reactor grade” has a greater variety of isotopes.

      The functional difference is that the higher purity is required to make nuclear bombs, hence “weapons grade.” Purity was a significant hurdle in nuclear arms development and one if the reasons the US got the bomb before Germany or the USSR which both struggled to get sufficient purity.