= American plutonium production
{tag=Weapons-grade nuclear material}
https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/pu50yc.html mentions:
> The United States Government has used 14 <plutonium> production reactors at the <Hanford site>[Hanford] and <Savannah River site>[Savannah River] sites to produce plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and DOE research and development programs. From 1944 to 1994, these reactors produced 103.4 metric tons of plutonium; 67.4 MT at Hanford, and 36.1 at Savannah River.
That site also contains a good summary of the closed shutdown reactors in each site. These are publicly disclosed e.g. at: https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/ProjectsFacilities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwKhz7BPBLY mentions that before they stopped production at the end of the <Cold War>, <Hanford site> produced 2/3 of the total American stockpile, and <Savannah River site> produced 1/3.
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/americas-nuclear-headache-old-plutonium-with-nowhere-to-go-idUSKBN1HR1JT/ claims that as of 2018 <Savannah River site> stored the majority of the stockpile.
TODO is there any information available on active <breeder reactors>? Hanford apparently shutdown.
Bibliography:
* https://fissilematerials.org/countries/united_states.html good source.
* https://www.quora.com/Does-the-US-still-produce-plutonium-I-know-they-dont-operate-at-Hanford-anymore-but-is-it-still-produced-by-exposing-uranium-in-a-reactor
Back to article page