plutonium 239

1. 1.

   a highly fissionable isotope of plutonium that is used in atomic weapons and as a reactor fuel; produced by irradiating uranium 238 with slow electrons

   Broaderplutonium

   Narrowerweapons plutonium

Questions about plutonium 239

What does plutonium 239 mean?

plutonium 239 means "a highly fissionable isotope of plutonium that is used in atomic weapons and as a reactor fuel; produced by irradiating uranium 238 with slow electrons".

Is plutonium 239 a common word?

plutonium 239 is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.