Since the first nuclear explosion in history during the Trinity test in 1945, nuclear weapons have significantly shaped the ...

then some of the more common uranium 238 would be transmuted into "element 94," now called plutonium. Like uranium 235, element 94 would be an incredibly powerful explosive. In 1941, von ...

It either must be enriched—made more concentrated in a rare form of uranium (U-235)—or converted into plutonium (Pu-239). Heavy water can play a role in breeding weapons-grade plutonium from ...

Nuclear reactions show the irradiation of uranium-235 at the Savannah River Site. This produced the intermediate neptunium-237, which was then transformed into plutonium-238. Pu-238 fueled the first ...