plutonium
noun/pluːˈtoʊniəm/
Etymology After Pluto (dwarf planet) + -n- + -ium. More in Wikipedia at plutonium § History.
1
Usually The transuranic chemical element with atomic number 94 and symbol Pu: a silvery-gray fissile radioactive actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air.
- Plutonium? You mean this sucker's nuclear?1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Marty McFly:
- The Samson Option states that Moshe Dayan gave the go-ahead for starting weapon production in early 1968, putting the plutonium separation plant into full operation.2009 June 7, Filipe, CNN, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2023:
1 more example
- For 75 years, it has fulfilled a wide range of roles: producing weapons-grade plutonium for early atomic weapons in the aftermath of the Second World War; the world's first commercial nuclear power station supplying electricity to the National Grid; reprocessing and storage of nuclear fuel; and the processing of lower grades of radioactive waste for off-site storage.2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 20:
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Alternative, Historical, Usually Alternative form of ploutonion.
- Derived terms
- diplutonium, nonplutonium, organoplutonium, plutonate, plutoniferous, plutonium-239, plutonium bomb, plutonium dioxide, plutonium enrichment, plutonium hydride, plutonium pit, plutonyl, reactor-grade plutonium, transplutonium, weapon-grade plutonium