The waste also contains radioactive isotopes of the transuranic elements neptunium,
americium, and curium.
They therefore would become "burner" reactors for fissioning the plutonium and the minor transuranic elements, neptunium,
americium, and curium, recovered from spent fuel from light water reactors.
They last only 10 years and contain radioactive
Americium 241, so send dead ones back to the manufacturer.
By mixing plutonium with
americium and other radioactive materials, the chances of nuclear terrorism will be reduced, the agency said.
Plutonium and
americium, both considered "transuranic"
The court expressed some skepticism as to whether
americium was in fact produced in the reactor, since if it was, it was in undetectable amounts.
Three radioactive ingredients dominated production: plutonium, uranium and
americium. Other hazardous materials, including beryllium, PCBs, sulfuric acid and carbon tetrachloride, round out the list of toxins that ultimately polluted Rocky Flats.
Biokinetics of neptunium, plutonium,
americium and californium in phytoplankton.
Seaborg was issued a patent on an element he discovered and named
Americium.
The Plutonium and
Americium (which decays into plutonium) in the discharges have been found not to disperse, but to concentrate in the fine cohesive sediments of the Irish Sea."
Long lived and high level waste (neptunium, plutonium,
americium) can be destroyed in the flux of neutrons which exists in some reactors (called transmutation or incineration), even in conditions which are not up to normal security standards.
These long-lived radionuclides , called minor actinides (elements like
americium, curium, neptunium), have to be separated from the spent fuel to be placed in a specific reactor for transmutation.