That just means it is purified enough to be usable in a weapon. There’s also lots of different plutonium isotopes, each with various suitability to weapons vs energy.
We need a lot more info to have an informed conversation than a blanket statement like “weapons-grade plutonium”. And I definitely don’t trust any major media outlet journalist at this point to have any idea what the fuck they’re talking about, especially with regards to anything nuclear. They regularly get things wrong or even completely backwards from reality with less complicated topics.
Especially since the actual Financial Times article that uses that phrase being referenced by this article, is locked behind a paywall.
There’s also just the fact that “weapons grade” just means it’s useful for a fission weapon. Nothing’s stopping you from taking that cobalt-60 you found in that Therac at Daryl’s junkyard, strapping it to an IED, and using that as a dispersal device to give a lot of people radiation poisoning or whatever (the traditional “dirty bomb”).
That just means it is purified enough to be usable in a weapon. There’s also lots of different plutonium isotopes, each with various suitability to weapons vs energy.
We need a lot more info to have an informed conversation than a blanket statement like “weapons-grade plutonium”. And I definitely don’t trust any major media outlet journalist at this point to have any idea what the fuck they’re talking about, especially with regards to anything nuclear. They regularly get things wrong or even completely backwards from reality with less complicated topics.
Especially since the actual Financial Times article that uses that phrase being referenced by this article, is locked behind a paywall.
There’s also just the fact that “weapons grade” just means it’s useful for a fission weapon. Nothing’s stopping you from taking that cobalt-60 you found in that Therac at Daryl’s junkyard, strapping it to an IED, and using that as a dispersal device to give a lot of people radiation poisoning or whatever (the traditional “dirty bomb”).