Weapons-grade

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Actinides and fission products by half-life v t e
Actinides^[1] by decay chain				Half-life range (y)	Fission products of ²³⁵U by yield^[2]
4n	4n+1	4n+2	4n+3		Fission products of ²³⁵U by yield^[2]
4n	4n+1	4n+2	4n+3			4.5–7%	0.04–1.25%	<0.001%
²²⁸Ra^№				4–6	†		¹⁵⁵Eu^þ
²⁴⁴Cm	²⁴¹Pu^ƒ	²⁵⁰Cf	²²⁷Ac^№	10–29		⁹⁰Sr	⁸⁵Kr	^113mCd^þ
²³²U^ƒ		²³⁸Pu^№	²⁴³Cm^ƒ	29–97		¹³⁷Cs	¹⁵¹Sm^þ	^121mSn
²⁴⁸Bk^[3]	²⁴⁹Cf^ƒ	^242mAm^ƒ		141–351	No fission products have a half-life in the range of 100–210 k years ...
	²⁴¹Am^ƒ		²⁵¹Cf^ƒ^[4]	430–900
		²²⁶Ra^№	²⁴⁷Bk	1.3 k – 1.6 k
²⁴⁰Pu	²²⁹Th^№	²⁴⁶Cm	²⁴³Am^ƒ	4.7 k – 7.4 k
	²⁴⁵Cm^ƒ	²⁵⁰Cm		8.3 k – 8.5 k
			²³⁹Pu^ƒ№	24.1 k
		²³⁰Th^№	²³¹Pa^№	32 k – 76 k
²³⁶Np^ƒ	²³³U^ƒ№	²³⁴U^№		150 k – 250 k	‡	⁹⁹Tc^₡	¹²⁶Sn
²⁴⁸Cm		²⁴²Pu		327 k – 375 k			⁷⁹Se^₡
				1.53 M		⁹³Zr
	²³⁷Np^№			2.1 M – 6.5 M		¹³⁵Cs^₡	¹⁰⁷Pd
²³⁶U^№			²⁴⁷Cm^ƒ	15 M – 24 M			¹²⁹I^₡
²⁴⁴Pu^№				80 M	... nor beyond 15.7 M years^[5]
²³²Th^№		²³⁸U^№	²³⁵U^ƒ№	0.7 G – 14.1 G	... nor beyond 15.7 M years^[5]
Legend for superscript symbols ₡ has thermal neutron capture cross section in the range of 8–50 barns ƒ fissile m metastable isomer № naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) þ neutron poison (thermal neutron capture cross section greater than 3k barns) † range 4–97 y: Medium-lived fission product ‡ over 200,000 y: Long-lived fission product

A weapons-grade substance is one that is pure enough to be used to make a nuclear weapon or has properties that make it particularly suitable for nuclear weapons use. Plutonium and uranium in grades normally used in nuclear weapons are the most common examples. (These nuclear materials have other categorizations based on their purity.)

Only fissile isotopes of certain elements have the potential for use in nuclear weapons. For such use, the concentration of fissile isotopes uranium-235 and plutonium-239 in the element used must be sufficiently high. Uranium from natural sources is enriched by isotope separation, and plutonium is produced in a suitable nuclear reactor.

Experiments have been conducted with uranium-233. Neptunium-237 and some isotopes of americium might be usable, but it is not clear that this has ever been implemented.^[6]

Substances for chemical and biological warfare may also be described as weapons-grade.

Countries that have produced weapons-grade nuclear material

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Relatively few countries (10) have produced weapons-grade nuclear material: China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Weapons-grade uranium

Natural uranium is made weapons-grade through isotopic enrichment. Initially only about 0.7% of it is fissile U-235, with the rest being almost entirely uranium-238 (U-238). They are separated by their differing masses. Highly enriched uranium is considered weapons-grade when it has been enriched to about 90% U-235^{[citation needed]}.

U-233 is produced from thorium-232 by neutron capture. The U-233 produced thus does not require enrichment and can be relatively easily chemically separated from residual Th-232. It is therefore regulated as a special nuclear material only by the total amount present. U-233 may be intentionally down-blended with U-238 to remove proliferation concerns.^[7]

While U-233 would thus seem ideal for weaponization, a significant obstacle to that goal is the co-production of trace amounts of uranium-232 due to side-reactions. U-232 hazards, a result of its highly radioactive decay products such as thallium-208, are significant even at 5 parts per million. Implosion nuclear weapons require U-232 levels below 50 PPM (above which the U-233 is considered "low grade"; cf. "Standard weapon grade plutonium requires a Pu-240 content of no more than 6.5%." which is 65,000 PPM, and the analogous Pu-238 was produced in levels of 0.5% (5000 PPM) or less). Gun-type fission weapons would require low U-232 levels and low levels of light impurities on the order of 1 PPM.^[8]

Weapons-grade plutonium

Pu-239 is produced artificially in nuclear reactors when a neutron is absorbed by U-238, forming U-239, which then decays in a rapid two-step process into Pu-239. It can then be separated from the uranium in a nuclear reprocessing plant.

Weapons-grade plutonium is defined as being predominantly Pu-239, typically about 93% Pu-239.^[9] Pu-240 is produced when Pu-239 absorbs an additional neutron and fails to fission. Pu-240 and Pu-239 are not separated by reprocessing. Pu-240 has a high rate of spontaneous fission, which can cause a nuclear weapon to predetonate. This makes plutonium unsuitable for use in gun-type nuclear weapons. To reduce the concentration of Pu-240 in the plutonium produced, weapons program plutonium production reactors (e.g. B Reactor) irradiate the uranium for a far shorter time than is normal for a nuclear power reactor. More precisely, weapons-grade plutonium is obtained from uranium irradiated to a low burnup.

This represents a fundamental difference between these two types of reactor. In a nuclear power station, high burnup is desirable. Power stations such as the obsolete British Magnox and French UNGG reactors, which were designed to produce either electricity or weapons material, were operated at low power levels with frequent fuel changes using online refuelling to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Such operation is not possible with the light water reactors most commonly used to produce electric power. In these the reactor must be shut down and the pressure vessel disassembled to gain access to the irradiated fuel.

Plutonium recovered from LWR spent fuel, while not weapons grade, can be used to produce nuclear weapons at all levels of sophistication,^[10] though in simple designs it may produce only a fizzle yield.^[11] Weapons made with reactor-grade plutonium would require special cooling to keep them in storage and ready for use.^[12] A 1962 test at the U.S. Nevada National Security Site (then known as the Nevada Proving Grounds) using non-weapons-grade plutonium produced in a Magnox reactor in the United Kingdom. The plutonium used was provided to the United States under the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement. Its isotopic composition has not been disclosed, other than the description reactor grade and it has not been disclosed which definition was used in describing the material this way.^[13] The plutonium was apparently sourced from the military Magnox reactors at Calder Hall or Chapelcross. The content of plutonium-239 in material used for the 1962 test was not disclosed, but has been inferred to have been at least 85%, much higher than typical spent fuel from currently operating reactors.^[14]

Occasionally, low-burnup spent fuel has been produced by a commercial LWR when an incident such as a fuel cladding failure has required early refuelling. If the period of irradiation has been sufficiently short, this spent fuel could be reprocessed to produce weapons grade plutonium.

References

↑ Plus radium (element 88). While actually a sub-actinide, it immediately precedes actinium (89) and follows a three-element gap of instability after polonium (84) where no isotopes have half-lives of at least four years (the longest-lived isotope in the gap is radon-222 with a half life of less than four days). Radium's longest lived isotope, at 1,600 years, thus merits the element's inclusion here.
↑ Specifically from thermal neutron fission of U-235, e.g. in a typical nuclear reactor.
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"The isotopic analyses disclosed a species of mass 248 in constant abundance in three samples analysed over a period of about 10 months. This was ascribed to an isomer of Bk²⁴⁸ with a half-life greater than 9 y. No growth of Cf²⁴⁸ was detected, and a lower limit for the β⁻ half-life can be set at about 10⁴ y. No alpha activity attributable to the new isomer has been detected; the alpha half-life is probably greater than 300 y."
↑ This is the heaviest isotope with a half-life of at least four years before the "Sea of Instability".
↑ Excluding those "classically stable" isotopes with half-lives significantly in excess of ²³²Th; e.g., while ^113mCd has a half-life of only fourteen years, that of ¹¹³Cd is nearly eight quadrillion years.
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↑ Definition of Weapons-Usable Uranium-233 ORNL/TM-13517
↑ Nuclear Materials FAQ
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External links

Reactor-Grade and Weapons-Grade Plutonium in Nuclear Explosives, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Nuclear weapons and power-reactor plutonium, Amory B. Lovins, February 28, 1980, Nature, Vol. 283, No. 5750, pp. 817–823
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[1] Plus radium (element 88). While actually a sub-actinide, it immediately precedes actinium (89) and follows a three-element gap of instability after polonium (84) where no isotopes have half-lives of at least four years (the longest-lived isotope in the gap is radon-222 with a half life of less than four days). Radium's longest lived isotope, at 1,600 years, thus merits the element's inclusion here.

[2] Specifically from thermal neutron fission of U-235, e.g. in a typical nuclear reactor.

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"The isotopic analyses disclosed a species of mass 248 in constant abundance in three samples analysed over a period of about 10 months. This was ascribed to an isomer of Bk²⁴⁸ with a half-life greater than 9 y. No growth of Cf²⁴⁸ was detected, and a lower limit for the β⁻ half-life can be set at about 10⁴ y. No alpha activity attributable to the new isomer has been detected; the alpha half-life is probably greater than 300 y."

[4] This is the heaviest isotope with a half-life of at least four years before the "Sea of Instability".

[5] Excluding those "classically stable" isotopes with half-lives significantly in excess of ²³²Th; e.g., while ^113mCd has a half-life of only fourteen years, that of ¹¹³Cd is nearly eight quadrillion years.

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[7] Definition of Weapons-Usable Uranium-233 ORNL/TM-13517

[8] Nuclear Materials FAQ

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Weapons-grade

Contents

Countries that have produced weapons-grade nuclear material

Weapons-grade uranium

Weapons-grade plutonium

References

External links

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