Plutonium has several industrial uses, particularly in the nuclear industry. Here are some of the uses of plutonium:

• Nuclear Weapons: Plutonium-239 is used to make nuclear weapons. Pu-239 and Pu-240 are byproducts of nuclear reactor operations and nuclear bomb explosions.

• Nuclear Power: Plutonium-239 is primarily used as a fuel to power nuclear reactors. It enters into the composition of MOX fuel – mixed uranium and plutonium oxide. By combining the Pu 239 produced by nuclear reactors with depleted uranium, MOX can be used to fabricate one new fuel assembly from every 8 used fuel assemblies.

• Space Missions: Plutonium-238 generates significant heat through its radioactive decay process, which makes it useful as a heat source for sensitive electrical components in satellites, as well as a power source (for example, battery power) for satellites. Plutonium-238 has been used to power batteries for some heart pacemakers, as well as provide a long-lived heat source to power NASA space missions. The Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and Galileo probes are equipped with Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTG) that use plutonium-238 as a power source.