The pits were then shipped to Texas to be assembled into nuclear weapons. Plutonium is a silvery-gray, radioactive metal named after the planet Pluto.
Plutonium is used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
It was first made in significant quantities during the World War II Manhattan Project in the 1940s. Plutonium can also be used as a fuel in certain types of nuclear reactors where the fission process is controlled so that large quantities of energy are released more slowly to make steam and produce electricity. The radioactivity level of an isotope such as plutonium is determined by its half-life, which is the time it takes for half of an original quantity to decay. It can ignite nearby flammable materials, causing fires that can result in plutonium exposure of workers and the public. In addition, workers must avoid storing more than a few pounds in close proximity to prevent runaway fission, an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction.