Is plutonium toxic ?

Anxiousness about plutonium results from alpharadiation. Alpha particles can be stopped by a single sheet of paper and therefore can only effect human cells if they are very close. 

Plutonium must be ingested or inhaled before it can exert a potentially harmful effect. 

Any plutonium oxide found on the skin can easily be washed off. If it is accidentally ingested in oxide form, most will evacuated in the stools as it is insoluble. 

When inhaled, it can, after passing through the lungs and the blood stream, reach the bones or the liver, in which case it could have a carcinogenic effect.

However, the very high density of plutonium oxide, the size of the particles and their insolubility means that this result rarely occurs following inhalation. 

In the event of accidental internal contamination, medical treatments is available to ensure that the body expels the plutonium.

Is it possible to make bombs from civilian plutonium ?

There are various types of plutonium: plutonium produced in most civilian nuclear power plants contains less than 70% of fissile plutonium. Consequently, less than 70% of atoms capable of setting off a nuclear explosion.

This proportion is insufficient to produce military atom bombs, which leads to the notion of civilian plutonium. However, it has been demonstrated theoretically that by substituting quantity for quality, it would be possible to construct a very low-power nuclear bomb.

It should be pointed on that so far, no country has gone along this road to becoming a nuclear power, which seems to indicate that this is not an easy method.

In order to check that all countries comply with their commitments, civilian nuclear facilities are placed under the control of international organisations: Euratom and IAEA.

Storage of nuclear waste ?

The waste is first stored after packing in a stable insoluble matrix above ground level. During this period, the radioactivity will decrease considerably. 

This waste is then stored in deep underground sites chosen for their stability and the absence of underground water. 

However, the amount of nuclear waste produced is greatly reduced by recycling plutonium as MOX fuel:  buried waste only contains material that cannot be recycled.

What is BELGONUCLEAIRE’s involvement in the American MOX project to neutralize the plutonium produced by nuclear disarmament ?

On March 22, 1999, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it had signed a contract with the DCS group for the design of a MOX fuel manufacturing plant for the USA. The contract also specifies, under conditions to be agreed on at a later date, the construction of the plant, its operation and the use of the MOX fuel produced in American electricity generating nuclear power plants.

The DCS group is composed of the American engineering companies Duke Engineering and Stone & Webster and the American branch of Cogéma. The DCS group uses the services of BELGONUCLEAIRE’s Engineering Department mainly for its MOX fuel manufacturing technology.