Talk:Weapons-grade nuclear material

message: The part on U-233 needs some cleanup / corrections. The claimed limits of 50 ppm and 1 ppm of U-232 are not supported by the given Ref..
: Good catch on the 1PPM mention in ref, but RE 50PPM, am I misreading? "weapons-grade U-233 can be produced with U-232 levels of around 5 parts per million (0.0005%). Above 50 ppm (0.005%) of U-232 is considered low grade." -- Limulus (talk) 08:53, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  U-233 

message: Shouldn't the list of countries include USSR instead of, or possibly as well as , Russia?   I think that most of the production of this material was done at the time of the USSR, and I think that it was done in other republics than Russia so having "Russia" is misleading.  But I'm not sure so I hope that someebody can change this if necessary. Boleslaw (talk) 13:37, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Countries producing weapons grade nuclear material 

message: Weapons-grade plutonium[edit]
Pu-239 is produced artificially in nuclear reactors when a neutron is absorbed by U-238, forming U-239, which then decays in a rapid two-step process into Pu-239. It can then be separated from the uranium in a nuclear reprocessing plant.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.176.105.133 (talk) 12:17, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: This is not an error.  It does not say Pu-239 decays into Pu-239.  It says U-239 decays to Pu-239. NPguy (talk) 01:52, 6 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article Error: Pu-239 decays to Pu-239! 

message: I find this paragraph really hard to digest:
:Plutonium recovered from LWR spent fuel, while not weapons grade, can be used to produce nuclear weapons at all levels of sophistication,[10] though in simple designs it may produce only a fizzle yield.[11] Weapons made with reactor-grade plutonium would require special cooling to keep them in storage and ready for use.[12] A 1962 test at the U.S. Nevada National Security Site (then known as the Nevada Proving Grounds) using non-weapons-grade plutonium produced in a Magnox reactor in the United Kingdom. The plutonium used was provided to the United States under the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement. Its isotopic composition has not been disclosed, other than the description reactor grade and it has not been disclosed which definition was used in describing the material this way.[13] The plutonium was apparently sourced from the military Magnox reactors at Calder Hall or Chapelcross. The content of plutonium-239 in material used for the 1962 test was not disclosed, but has been inferred to have been at least 85%, much higher than typical spent fuel from currently operating reactors.[14]
For instance, just the 'sentence' "A 1962 test at the U.S. Nevada National Security Site (then known as the Nevada Proving Grounds) using non-weapons-grade plutonium produced in a Magnox reactor in the United Kingdom."
A 1962 test what? This is a sentence fragment, and the remainder of the paragraph does nothing to even describe which test it was, let alone part of which series. A quick google suggests that it was not part of any series and was kept secret for 15 years, but much of this detail is left out. It may not be necessary, but this entire piece is vague at best. Furthermore, it repeats itself in several locations, and just generally could use some streamlining. AnyyVen (talk) 03:41, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unclear writing 

message: How is "weapons-grade nuclear material" defined?
I'm guessing the definition should include two elements: 
* Sufficiently long half-life so that the components for such a weapon could be safely stored for a few years, preferably a few decades, and then quickly assembled into a functioning weapon if and when needed.  
* The critical mass of the material used would be small enough to make it transportable.  
??? Thanks, DavidMCEddy (talk) 18:32, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: There is also a difference between "weapons-usable" and "weapons-grade" nuclear material.  Weapons-grade material is the material of choice, with the highest purity, lowest critical mass, etc.  Weapons-usable material includes less-than-ideal materials that could still be used in a weapon.  For example, virtually any mix of plutonium isotopes can be used to make a nuclear weapon, but weapons-grade plutonium (produced from low-burnup uranium) has a low concentration of Pu-240.  This is because spontaneous fission of Pu-240 can cause pre-initiation of the chain reaction before maximum compression and reduce the resulting explosive yield. NPguy (talk) 16:48, 11 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  How is "weapons-grade nuclear material" defined?