plutonium-242
Sign in to savePlutonium-242 (Pu or Pu-242) is the second longest-lived isotope of plutonium, with a half-life of 375,000 years. The half-life of Pu is about 15 times that of Pu; so it is one-fifteenth as radioactive, and not one of the larger contributors to nuclear waste radioactivity. Pu's gamma ray emissions are also weaker than those of the other isotopes. As the direct parent of uranium-238 it is part of the uranium series decay chain.
Key facts
- Isotope.symbol
- Pu
- Isotope.mass_number
- 242
- Isotope.mass
- 242.059741
- Isotope.num_neutrons
- 148
- Isotope.num_protons
- 94
- Isotope.decay_product
- Uranium-238
- Isotope.decay_symbol
- 238U
- Isotope.decay_mode1
- alpha decay
- Isotope.decay_energy1
- 4.984
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
2 sectionsContents
- In the nuclear fuel cycle
- References
Plutonium-242 (Pu or Pu-242) is the second longest-lived isotope of plutonium, with a half-life of 375,000 years. The half-life of Pu is about 15 times that of Pu; so it is one-fifteenth as radioactive, and not one of the larger contributors to nuclear waste radioactivity. Pu's gamma ray emissions are also weaker than those of the other isotopes. As the direct parent of uranium-238 it is part of the uranium series decay chain.
It is not fissile (but it is fissionable by fast neutrons), and its neutron capture cross section is low. Like the other even isotopes of plutonium it has a significant rate of spontaneous fission.