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Plutonium (Pu)

Plutonium is one of a family of highly radioactive "synthetic" elements cooked up in nuclear reactors. But do they have any practical application besides the atom bomb?

Plutonium is one of a family of highly radioactive "synthetic" elements cooked up in nuclear reactors. But does it and its kin have any practical application besides the atom bomb? We travel to plutonium's sunny birthplace to find out.
(Picture: Nuclear test in Nevada in 1953; Credit: Stocktrek Images/Thinkstock)

38 minutes

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