Plutonium-238 (238 Pu or Pu-238) is a radioactive isotope of plutonium that has a half-life of 87.7 years. Plutonium-238 is a very powerful alpha emitter; as alpha particles are easily blocked, this makes the plutonium-238 isotope suitable for usage in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and radioisotope heater units.

Feb 7, 2024 · Plutonium-238 is a special material that emits steady heat due to its natural radioactive decay. Several unique features of plutonium-238 have made it the material of choice to help produce electrical power for spacecraft.

Plutonium was first synthesized and isolated in late 1940 and early 1941, by deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the 1.5-metre (60 in) cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley.

Over the years a number of replacement measurements have been performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory to determine the critical mass of 238Pu and to investigate the nuclear properties of 238Pu. These measurements were performed using the 240Pu Jezebel critical assembly (PU-MET-FAST-002).

Sep 1, 1996 · Because of the lower energy density, a Sr-90 fuel rod will not get as hot as a Pu-238 rod. A new rod, depending on configuration, might be able to achieve a surface temperature of only 700 to 800 degrees C.

Reactor-grade plutonium (RGPu)[1][2] is the isotopic grade of plutonium that is found in spent nuclear fuel after the uranium-235 primary fuel that a nuclear power reactor uses has burnt up.

Note: Large I positions have 22 rods per position and medium I positions have 8. All other positions have 1 rod/position. Production increases as positions are used together. Track total heating deposition for each target rod. Calculate decay heat in each target rod.

What is Plutonium-238? ral radioactive decay. Several unique features of plutonium-238 have made it the material of choice to help produce electrical power for more than two-dozen U.S. space missions that have been enabled by radioisoto

Jan 1, 2011 · Two Monte Carlo-based depletion codes, TRITON (ORNL) and VESTA (IRSN), were used to study the 238 Pu production rates with varying target configurations in a typical HFIR fuel cycle.

Properties and data of the isotope 238 Pu. Plutonium-238 is the radioisotope of the element plutonium, whose atomic nucleus has 144 neutrons in addition to the element-specific 94 protons, resulting in a mass number of 238: 238 Pu. Pu-238 is a fissile, alpha-emitting isotope that decays to Uranium-238 with a half-life of 87.7 years.