I have a question about nuclear weapons. Anyone here know much about them?

[PamW]

82. Another thing that is NOT classified

Another thing that is NOT classified is that the USA no longer makes Plutonium and hasn't for decades.

Plutonium was created in the reactors at Hanford and Savannah River. The last production reactor in operation at Hanford was N-Reactor which was shutdown in 1987:

http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/NReactor

The N Reactor operated from 1963 until 1987 when it was shut down for routine maintenance, refueling, and safety upgrades. However, it was never re-started.

As far as the reactors at Savannah River, the last one was shutdown in 1988. See page 23 at:

http://www.em.doe.gov/pdfs/pubpdfs/linklegacy_011_030.pdf

P, L, K, and C reactors continued to operate at the Savannah River Site until late 1988.

The following is from the Federation of American Scientists with regard to Plutonium production:

http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/plutonium.htm

Weapon-grade plutonium has different characteristics. It contains mainly Pu-239 which has a half-life of 24 000 years and only very small quantities of Pu-241 (unlike reactor-grade plutonium which can contain around 15% Pu-241.)

Although the exact percentage of Pu-239 in weapons fuel is not known; it has to be greater than 85%. That's because we DO KNOW that "reactor-grade" plutonium is 15% Pu-241 and thus is 85% Pu-239. So the weapons grade plutonium, which has a greater percentage than reactor grade has to therefore be >85% Pu-239. So at least 85% of the plutonium has a half-life of 24,100 years. So that means that the bulk of the plutonium is NOT disappearing very fast.

The last production reactor was shutdown in 1988. So the USA hasn't had the ability to make new Plutonium for decades. So ALL the Plutonium in US weapons is more than 20 years old, and you said the Plutonium goes bad in 5-10 years.

So the fact that the USA does NOT have the ability to make new Plutonium, means all our weapons are certified reliable and safe with Plutonium that is greater than 20 years old. The Plutonium can't be replaced because we aren't making any new Plutonium to replace it with.

PamW