![]() The first production reactor that made plutonium-239 was the X-10 Graphite Reactor, also known as the Clinton Pile, which went online in 1943 in Oak Ridge, TN. Plutonium production was essential for the Manhattan Project, and scientists at institutions throughout the country were competing with isotope separation methods to create it during 1942. As these neutrons hit other atoms of plutonium-239, an exponentially fast chain reaction is produced. Scientists discovered that when neutrons hit the isotope, it fissions, releasing more neutrons and energy. During this time, the nuclear properties of plutonium-239 were also studied. A trace quantity of plutonium was isolated and measured for the first time on August 20, 1942. This meant that element 94 would be “fissionable” by both slow and fast neutrons and since it was chemically different from uranium, it could easily be separated from it.Įarly research on plutonium was carried out secretly at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory. This element’s nucleus then also emits an electron and becomes a new element of mass 239 but with an atomic number 94 and a much greater half-life. This is because uranium-238 absorbs slow neutrons and forms a new isotope, U-239, whose nucleus rapidly emits an electrons producing a new element with a mass of 239 and an atomic number of 93. Early on, scientists realized that a slow neutron reactor fueled with uranium could theoretically produce significant amounts of plutonium-239 as a by-product. The basic chemistry of plutonium is closely related to uranium. An article explaining the discovery was prepared by the team and sent to the Physical Review to be published in March 1941, but the paper was withdrawn after the subsequent discovery that an isotope of the new element, plutonium-239, could undergo fission and be used as fuel for an atomic bomb. Wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. Plutonium was first produced and isolated on Decemby Dr. Its discovery created unique opportunities and challenges for scientists and corporate partners of the Manhattan Project. Plutonium was a new and unusual substance.
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