Plutonium 2 Essay, Research Paper

Should we begin to manufacture one of the most destuctive and infamous

substances on the face of the Earth once again? The engineers say yes, but the public says

no. The United States stopped making this element with the ban on manufacturing nuclear

weapons. But with the continuing problem with our ever diminishing energy sources,

some want us to begin using more nuclear energy and less energy from natural resources.

This paper is going to discuss what plutonium is, the advantages and disadvantages of it’s

use, and why we should think about restarting the production of this useful element.

In 1941, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, dicovered something

that would chang our planet forever. The man’s name, Glenn T. Seaborg, discovered the

element plutonium. Plutonium or Pu #94 on the periodic table, is one of the most unstable

elements on the Earth. It is formed when Uranium 235, another highly unstable element,

absorbs a neutron. Plutonium is a silvery-white metal that has a very high density of

19.816 g/cm3. It has been rarely found in the earth’s crust but the majority of the

substance has to be produced in the cores of nuclear reactors.Plutonium can be found

fifteen different forms, or isotopes and their mass number can range from 232-246.

Radionuclide batteries used in pacemakers use Pu-238, while Pu-239 is used in reactors

and for Nuclear weapons. This paper will focus on the isotopes Pu-238 and Pu-239.

Plutonium can be very advantageous for the United States. It can be used for several

purposes. The three major advantages to using this element are for an energy source,

power for nuclear propulsion in space exploration and thermo-electric generators in

cardiac pacemakers. The first use for plutonium, nuclear power, is obviously the most

beneficial use. Plutonium 239 can be used to power nuclear reactors. The average nuclear

reactor contains about 325 kilograms of plutonium within its uranium fuel. This

complements the uranium fission process. With the continually decreasing supply of coal

and oil to power our nation, we need a substitute to complement our energy needs and

right now the best replacement is that of nuclear energy. At the moment there are one

hundred and ten nuclear power plants in the United States and they produce one-fifth of

the nations electricity. Nuclear energy has been proven to be the cheapest, safest, cleanest

and probably the most efficient source of energy. Nuclear power plants do not use as

much fuel as the plants burning coal and oil. One ton of uranium produces more energy

than several million tons of coal, and plutonium can produce much more energy than

uranium. Also the burning of coal and oil pollute our air and the last thing we need is more

pollution to worsen the greenhouse effect. Nuclear power plants cannot contaminate the

environment because they do not release any type of pollution. Plutonium can also be

recycled by using a enrichment process. This will produce even more energy. Coal and oil

can not be recycled. What is left by their uses is what has been contaminating our

atmosphere since the 1800’s. You might ask how exactly is plutonium converted into an

energy source? Well it is obviously quite complicated to explain. Basically, power comes

from the fission process of an atom of the element and produces over ten million times the

energy produced by an atom of carbon from coal. One kilogram of plutonium consumed

for three years in a reactor can produce heat to give ten million kilowatt-hours of

electricity. This amount is enough to power over one-thousand Australian households.

Presented with this information, it is only common sense that we should not depend upon

fossil fuels to take us into the 21st century. It is obvious that our future lies in the hands of

nuclear reactors and the use of plutonium.

The second major use for plutonium is for space exploration with its ability to

power nuclear propulsion. Nuclear electric propulsion is using energy from plutonium to

power space vehicles. One of the major goals of NASA space program is to, one day, get

to Mars, and it looks like the only way it is going to happen in our current fiscal condition,

is if we use plutonium, instead of chemical fuel, to power our explorations. Nuclear

electric propulsion can be defined as using small plutonium based bricks, to power space

vehicles for interplanetary trips. Nuclear electric systems provide very low thrust levels

and use only very small amounts of fuel during the voyage. Using electric propulsion also

allows the use of less fuel making the spacecrafts launch weight much lower than it would

be with chemical fuel.

The last beneficial use for plutonium is for cardiac pacemakers. The thermo-

electric generator which is powered by radionuclide batteries that powers the pacemaker

uses Pu-238. One of the obvious uses of plutonium, whether is an advantage or

disadvantage, is for weaponry. It is an advantage if we need to use it against a foe, but it is

disadvantageous is our foes use it against the United States. Now that we are at the hands

of the Non-proliferation Treaty and the Test Ban Treaty, we no longer can make and/or

test nuclear weapons. This should help end ideas about nuclear war and other

disadvantages to having plutonium in other countrys’ supplies.

Now that we have recognized three important uses for Plutonium and that the

threat of nuclear war is no longer as feasible as before, we should recognize the

disadvantages of this great energy source. They mostly have to do with excess waste and

health effects from the use of nuclear energy. In 1986, a reactor located in Russia at the

Chernobyl power plant had a meltdown and radiation escaped from the plant. Several

dozen died from this incident. Nuclear explosions produce radiation. When it comes within

human contact, radiation hurts cells which can sicken people. The cause of the Chernobyl

meltdown was mostly because of human error. They tried to perform an experiment at a

time when they shouldn’t have, and many people paid for their incompetence. There are

waste disposal problems that occur with the use of nuclear reactors. Waste also produces

radiation which can be lethal. Since waste can hurt and kill people who come in contact

with the substance, it cannot be thrown away in a dumpster like other garbage. Waste has

to be put in cooling pools or storage tanks at the site of the reactors. Another problem is

that the reactors can last for a maximum of fifty years. Even though plutonium is

chemically hazardous and produces harmful radiation, it isn’t close to being the most toxic

substance on the planet. Such substances as caffeine or radiation from smoke detectors,

that have the same amount of mass as plutonium, can have a greater toxicity. There are

basically three ways plutonium can hurt humans.

The first is ingestion. Ingestion, though not totally safe, it is not as bad as we

think. The fact is, plutonium passes through the stomach and intestines and cannot be

absorbed and therefore, is released with other waste we produce. The second route

plutonium can take to be hazardous is through open wounds. This form of contact is very

rare and basically cannot happen if the element is handled correctly with protective

measures such as correct clothing and health monitor procedures. The last, main threat to

our society comes from inhalation. If inhaled, plutonium is exhaled on the next breath or

gotten rid off through the mucous flow from the throat and bronchial system and released

as with ingestion. However, some could get trapped and put into the blood stream or

lymph nodes. This has the possibility to cause cancer in the future. This might sound

frightening, but what we need to realize is that inhaling this type of substance is part of

some of our daily lives. The problem of inhaling Pu-239 isn’t much different than inhaling

such radionuclides like decaying particles from radon. Radon is a radioactive gas that can

cause cancer. It comes from the decay of uranium in soil, rock and water. Inhaling this

substance can damage your lungs and lead to cancer over a lifetime. Everyone who lives in

homes, works in offices or goes to school, can be affected by the gas. If you live in a brick

house, you could be taking a serious risk if you don’t get the radon level tested. A 1990

National Safety Council report showed that radon causes, on the average, approximately

14,000 deaths a year and can go as high as 30,000 deaths a year, but you probably should

be more worried about dying in an automobile accident or a plane crash.