The US Department of Energy has launched a new radiochemical separation process at the Savannah River National Laboratory to ...

Nuclear bombs do not rely on size, they rely on physics. Here is how chain reactions and hydrogen bombs unleash power on a ...

Most materials expand when heated. This happens because the rising temperature causes atoms to vibrate intensely, move further apart, and occupy more space. Delta-plutonium, however, breaks this ...

During their wartime race to build the world’s first Abomb, U.S. scientists urgently needed one vital component: a chemical element that was fissionable (explosive) but not so radioactive that it ...

Plutonium, a radioactive element, is produced when uranium, another radioactive element, absorbs neutrons, and most of it is artificially produced, except for a small amount found in uranium ore.

For new, human-made heavy elements on the periodic table, being “too ‘big’ for your own good” often means instability and a fleeting existence. The more protons and neutrons scientists squeeze ...

One of the proud achievements of Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the discovery of three elements either by its own staff or in collaboration with other institutions in the United States and Russia.

Sprinkled across five western states, in silos buried deep underground and protected by reinforced concrete, sit 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Each of those missiles is equipped with a ...