Plutonium Isotopes

Plutonium (94Pu) is an artificial element, except for trace quantities resulting from neutron capture by uranium, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. It was synthesized before being found in nature, with the first isotope synthesized being 238Pu in 1940. Twenty-two plutonium radioisotopes have been characterized. The most stable are 244Pu with a half-life of 81.3 million years, 242Pu with a half-life of 375,000 years, 239Pu with a half-life of 24,110 years, and 240Pu with a half-life of 6,561 years. This element also has eight meta states; all have half-lives of less than one second. The known isotopes of plutonium range from 226Pu to 247Pu. The primary decay modes before the most stable isotope, 244Pu, are spontaneous fission and alpha decay; the primary mode after is beta emission. The primary decay products before 244Pu are isotopes of uranium and neptunium (not considering fission products), and the primary decay products after are isotopes of americium.