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Trump Administration Providing Weapons Grade Plutonium to Sam Altman (futurism.com)

submitted 2 days ago by resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/48838029

Today, in things I'd read on a fading screen in a half destroyed building in a Fallout game...

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[–] minnow@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yes, "weapons grade" has a higher purity being almost entirely made of fissile isotope Pu-239

"Reactor grade" has a greater variety of isotopes.

The functional difference is that the higher purity is required to make nuclear bombs, hence "weapons grade." Purity was a significant hurdle in nuclear arms development and one if the reasons the US got the bomb before Germany or the USSR which both struggled to get sufficient purity.