What is the half-life of Pu-238?
87.7 years
Pu-238 has a half-life of 87.7 years, making it a much longer-lasting source of energy than polonium-210, which was used in the 1959 RTG prototype and has a half-life of 138 days.
How long does plutonium-238 take to decay?
Plutonium-238 Half-Life In radioactivity, the half-life is the time taken by a specific amount of a radioactive substance that undergoes decomposition to be decreased by half. The half-life of Plutonium-238 is 87.7 years.
How long does a plutonium battery last?
Plutonium-238 has a half-life of 87.7 years, reasonable power density of 0.57 watts per gram, and exceptionally low gamma and neutron radiation levels.
Does plutonium-238 undergo radioactive decay?
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 more than two-dozen U.S. space missions that have been enabled by radioisotope power systems (RPS).
How long does plutonium take to decay?
24,000 years
Some isotopes decay in hours or even minutes, but others decay very slowly. Strontium-90 and cesium-137 have half-lives of about 30 years (half the radioactivity will decay in 30 years). Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years.
How expensive is plutonium 238?
Not surprisingly, plutonium-238 is expensive to make – very expensive. One pound of plutonium-238 costs about $4 million to make. And that does not include the upfront investment needed to reestablish production of plutonium-238 in the United States, which is expected to cost as much as $150 million or more.
What is the half-life of plutonium 241?
13.8 years to 15.1 years
The half-life of Fu-241 is an important nuclear constant for plutonium fuel design, exposure evaluation at the nuclear fuel production line, con- trol of a nuclear reactor, and others. So far, much data for Pu-241 half-life have been reported, but these values range from 13.8 years to 15.1 years.
How much does plutonium-238 cost?
Is plutonium-238 explosive?
In real life, Plutonium 238 isn’t explosive. In reality, Plutonium-238 isn’t even a fissile isotope; useless for weapons or reactor fuel, it’s solely a source of heat and alpha emitters in scientific research.
What is the half-life of weapons grade plutonium?
Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,110 years.
What is the half-life of plutonium 240?
6561
Plutonium-240 ( 240 or Pu-240) is an isotope of plutonium formed when plutonium-239 captures a neutron….Plutonium-240.
| General | |
|---|---|
| Half-life (t1/2) | 6561(7) years |
| Isotope mass | 240.0538135(20) u |
| Decay modes | |
| Decay mode | Decay energy (MeV) |