2. Physics of plutonium recycling PWRs

2.1 Plutonium, evolution

Unlike uranium, plutonium does not exist in nature.

In 1934, Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie demonstrated the possibility of creating artificial radionuclides by bombarding targets with particle beams.

At the start of the Second World War, President Roosevelt, advised by prestigious scientists such as A. Einstein, decided to launch the Manhattan Project. Einstein, decided to launch the Manhattan Project, which was to provide the United States with nuclear weapons.

Important events mark this period: