A newly released report from the Union of Concerned Scientists argues for reusing existing nuclear weapon cores from ...

Thermal nuclear weapon, also known as hydrogen bomb, is a type of nuclear weapon which is based on the nuclear fusion process.

their reactor causes uranium-238 to absorb excess neutrons and produce plutonium to be used as fuel. This process recycles material that would otherwise go to waste. This nuclear fission development ...

As it was said (and sang) in 1979, plutonium is forever…with thousands of years of radioactivity from nuclear fission (especially plutonium 239). Jeff Bezos—proving again that he is not ...

If the right kind of material is packed together in the right way, such as refined uranium or plutonium, a fission chain reaction, where more and more atoms are split by the neutrons emitted from ...

Nuclear Fission: Heavy isotopes such as Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239 undergo fission. Chain Reaction: The fission of these isotopes releases neutrons that trigger further fission in nearby atoms.

Most RTGs are built using plutonium-238 as their source of energy, which is not usable for nuclear power plants since it does not sustain fission reactions. Instead, plutonium-238 is an unstable ...

Uranium, plutonium and thorium can all be dissolved in appropriate ... In these liquid fuel designs, the fission products are dissolved into the molten salt, which is able to circulate through the ...

Once detonated, the explosives condense the plutonium surrounding the case so intensely that it triggers a fission reaction. The transition from “atomic” to “thermonuclear” designation ...

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has an intriguing relationship with promethium-147. First known as element 61 in the periodic table, it was declared “missing” in 1913 based on measurements by a ...

Plutonium pits are hollow spheres that cause the nuclear explosion of these deadly weapons. Usually, a chemical explosion will compress the pit, triggering a fission reaction within the plutonium.

A shipment of samples of plutonium oxide is en route from the UK to a laboratory ... The process also allows the separation of the most highly radioactive fission products, meaning the volume of the ...