Plutonium - Das geheimste Metall der Erde!

In movies,

plutonium

is often very valuable with tough guys in costumes. The reality is a little different because, like you, we cannot allow access to our facilities. Can you imagine This video is about a radioactive metal called

plutonium

. Since its discovery until today, it is an element with a very high level of secrecy. The history of the element with atomic number 94 began in 1940 when the Kleine Zwerg scientific group used it. The German combination of ronane created a uranium 238 atom in the cyclotron, one of the first particle accelerators, which as a result of this reaction irradiated to Neptune II, which by the following beta decay became plutonium 238.

This isotope was not fissile spontaneously and could not be fissile. used for the production of nuclear weapons that the United States government so desperately needed to win the nuclear arms race with Nazi Germany When the Americans irradiated uranium with salt neutrons six months later, they received isotope 239 of a new element that According to research, it was much more suitable than uranium 235 for nuclear weapons, the new element with atomic number 94 was named plutonium, in honor of the planet Pluto, discovered in 1930. Today it is no longer considered a planet, but the name of the The element has not been modified At that time there were no scientific publications on the discovery of plutonium.

The reason for this was that this element had crucial political and strategic importance, which caused both the US and the USSR to maintain all studies on it. top secret metal Just one year after the discovery of plutonium, the United States began its well-known Manhattan Project. This project aimed to extract large quantities of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium and develop the world's first atomic bomb. The United States obtained about six and a half kilograms of pure plutonium. In 1945, the world's first atomic bomb was detonated in New Mexico, which, codenamed Trinity Book, irradiated scientists at the Club in Radium Institute in St.

Petersburg at the same time as uranium. -238 with the neutron flux of the synchrotron Subsequently, scientists from the USSR began to produce plutonium in the first European industrial nuclear reactor of uranium and graphite A1 also called Oscar which was located in Chelyabinsk 65 which today and only around the American scientist is one step forward In the USSR, plutonium was produced extremely quickly and secretly. This is how a plant employee described his job. It was forbidden to take notes while working and we had to do everything from memory. All scientific reports were coded with a special terminological vocabulary that we all had to learn by heart.

For the graphite stones in the reactor we use high quality electrodes. Nine meant that natural uranium and methyl were used for plutonium. Its core here, however, its construction prompted the founding of the entire Majak company, in which scientists continued to work with radioactive materials. Later, the A1 high-performance channel reactor produced the first plutonium in the USSR. The beginning of this type of reactors was for peaceful people. The well-known reactor of this type, the BMK 1000, also produces some plutonium. Let's see how reactors are produced. First, zirconium tubes with small cylinders made of enriched uranium. To obtain the raw material, carbon dioxide with approximately three percent fissile substances is used and the fuel isotope uranium 235 and 97 percent uranium 238 fills the tubes, then special cassettes are formed that are called fuel elements or fuel rods. and then the fuel elements are housed in graphite blocks.

In this case, the graph is necessary to slow down the neutrons, since uranium 235 only under the influence of a slowly flowing neutron fission rod, the fission of uranium 235 creates more neutrons that can be absorbed by the isotopes of uranium 238. This creates plutonium 239, which in turn. convert the decays into the toni app, which is subject to beta decay and emits an antineutrino electron, which creates the isotope plutonium 239. In words it seems simple but in practice there are many technical nuances and pitfalls, many of them kept secret As a result of about five years of work, nuclear fuel forms various decay products that prevent the next chain reaction.

However, spent fuel contains plutonium, which can be separated from nuclear fuel by reprocessing the rods. This is exactly what the Russian Mayak nuclear power plant produces. By the way, I would like to thank you for the documents provided to have the plant prohibited from being viewed. Irradiated nuclear fuel cylinders removed from reactors are an extremely radioactive mixture of almost all the short-lived isotopes on the periodic table. such a small cylinder can kill anyone who comes within a meter of it, so spent fuel is typically stored in waste tanks for a few years until the short-lived isotopes disappear and the radioactivity decreases.

The high radioactivity of spent fuel makes them glow in the water, which is known as the Pavlov Cherenkov effect because the water is full of particles that move at high speed. It begins to glow after the nuclear fuel has settled in the water. It goes through a very long processing. Furthermore, as in the early Soviet experiments to obtain plutonium, the first stage involves dissolving the spent fuel in concentrated nitrous acid. As a result of this reaction, various radioactive elements can precipitate into solution. know all aspects of the process except the most important phase in the separation of plutonium and uranium.

The so-called purex process is the mission of fuel dissolved with kerosene, which contains 30 percent tribute phosphate and reducing agents such as hydroxyl or The result is that plutonium with oxidation level +3 remains in the lowest brownish layer, while the uranium remains in the yellowish organic layer. Of course, these are just the basic steps. This separation is followed by many other complex processes, the details of which I do not yet know, but what I do know is that plutonium becomes quite colorful when dissolved in solutions. In these test tubes we can observe how the plutonium salt solution changes color and its oxidation in water changes the chemical substance.

Properties of plutonium compounds compared to those of uranium. Remember that this was all just simulated for the video so you can see the chemistry of plutonium with your own eyes. Also remember that all chemical reactions with this element must be carried out. In special radiation-protected rooms with yellow leaded glass they protect scientists from irradiation of random products contained in plutonium solutions. The Rosatom company itself has provided us with some recordings of the brand's facilities. It's very difficult to say what was caught on camera. The end product of all these chemical processes is pure plutonium dioxide in powder form that can be colored from yellow to chimney red.

Plutonium dioxide dust can also produce

metall

ic plutonium. a gray metal that oxidizes easily in air. Its appearance and chemical reactivity are similar to those of rare earth metals. For this reason, students in radiochemistry schools often study plutonium using safe reagents, on the basis that the only difference is the higher density of the metal. Plutonium, which is 19.8 grams per centimeter of purified plutonium metal, has five different isotopes, two of which are particularly interesting. The isotope plutonium-238 is an extremely strong alpha emitter that decays to oranium-234 and releases helium nuclei. It has a half life. With the help of this plutonium, alpha decay of plutonium can be achieved.

If you place such a plate with a small amount of plutonium-238 in an alpha-sensitive dosimeter, you can see how quickly the pulses of alpha decay occur. this isotope is If you place a sheet of paper between the dosimeter and the source, the alpha rays will flow completely blocked. This demonstrates the fact that alpha rays have a low penetrating capacity and can be completely blocked by a thin sheet of paper. By the way, a portable dosimeter shows the same thing. The open calibration source emits a large number of alpha particles, while the covered source we have here cannot see any particles that emit a coincidence so strong that it causes pieces of plutonium metal 238 to be placed in a closed room to get very hot at times when they turn red and even start to burn.

Another important point is that plutonium is the worst conductor of heat of all metals. The resulting plutonium dioxide is also heated. This property of this element has been used in. Thermoelectric generators since the 1950s. The self-heated isotope of plutonium 238 produces a power of 567 watts per kilogram, which can be converted into electricity. These generators are even used in spacecraft and in curiosity races, the isotope plutonium 239 has a lower self-heating. but it is more suitable for the production of nuclear weapons. The only problem is that plutonium is extremely fragile in the alpha phase, so it is often gallium-ruled to make the transition and handling easier.

Like 70 years ago, plutonium is still used. today to make atomic bombs. This is the new B 88 warhead scheme. The capsule is covered with a mixture of tritium and a layer of plutonium. The whole thing is then covered with a layer of beryllium to create a strong neutron flux, this nesting. It is then fixed with two exploding lenses. Below is a secondary charge made up of layers of uranium 238 and uranium 235, which binds to the primary charge with the foam and creates a plasma in the explosion after the reflective layer is applied. The alpha rays from the primary charge to the secondary charge obtain a very powerful explosive force.

I really hope to never see it in action. This scheme is very simplified and we do not have exact data, especially regarding. As far as scale is concerned, that can be found in some universities. However, you have such old plutonium calibration sources of your own, especially in the radiochemistry department. I think you now know enough about the most secret metal in the world. , don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe to my channel for more interesting videos.