Why do we use Uranium and Plutonium for nukes? Is it possible to use other elements?
In: 276
In addition to other comments:
U235 is relatively easy to make a bomb from, but it’s very expensive and noticeable to other nations to make enough quantity of it so that a bomb will work.
Plutonium 239 is relatively easy to make, but very difficult to make a working bomb from. Because it’s relatively easy to make, it’s possession is extremely tightly regulated.
And with any radioactive elements in more than extremely tiny quantities, it’s very difficult to hide that you have them from the authorities. Radioactive decay chains are near impossible to hide.
For example, in Chernobyl, when the Swedes detected decay nearly immediately, it was near obvious to them that something was wrong with a Soviet reactor, nearly immediately.
Latest Answers