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Pu-241 is isotope of Plutonium.

mass: 241.057 amu


U-238 + n $ \rightarrow$ Np-239 + $\beta^-$

Np-239 $ \xrightarrow[~]{\beta^-}$ Pu-239

Pu-239 + n $ \rightarrow$ Pu-240

Pu-240 + n $ \rightarrow$ Pu-241

Most or nuclear reactors have significant concentration of U-238 in the active rods; so, production of plutonium happens automatically, whether it is wanted of not.

At accidents with nuclear plants, isotopes of Plutonium appear as one of main contaminants. Then, it decays to Americium, that becomes the main contaminant at the scale larger than a century.


$ \rm ^{241}_{~94}Pu \xrightarrow[15.4~y]{\beta^-,~ 21\,KeV} {} ^{241}_{~95}Am \xrightarrow[432.7\,y]{\alpha,\, 4.959\,MeV} {}^{237}_{~96}Np \xrightarrow[2.4 \times 10^6\,y]{\alpha,~4.958 \,MeV} \mathrm{^{233}_{91}Pa} ~.\,.\,. $


The cascade decay above is described in Utopia Tartaria.

One impostors, pretending to be a specialist, declares, that from the nuclear waste and contaminated soil, he can make warming devices based on the decay heat. Such a heater is declared to produce a kilowatt power during a century, with relative variation within 10%. with this project, company company Norga warm gets the huge federal grant, promising to manufacture an example of such a heater within two hears. The laboratory is constructed to select, separate, rectify the nuclear waste and contaminated soul. It grows up to a big factory, but the goal declared seem to be unreachable. In the waste they work with, no one isotope allow to satisfy the criteria declared. The project is about to be qualifier as a fraud and the money laundering.

One visitor-scientist, Ruvim Pechir, suggests the compound heating substance, containing 90% of Am-241 and 10% of Pu-241. During some tens of years, the depletion of Am-241 is partially compensated by conversion of Pu-241 into Am-241. The hear due to the beta decay of Pu-241 is negligible, but the alfa decay of Am-241, due to the partial recovery of its about, provides the stability declared. Ruvim Pechor illustrates his project with the explicit plot, simulation of the heat generation versus time.

No other way to save the project is suggested; so, the head of project orders his staff to follow recommendation by Ruvim Pechir; Ruvim gets title "top scientist" of the Norga Warm company. The top chemist, attractive woman (Pesia Zivertov) makes the special rectification machine and extracts the required amount of Am-241 and Pu-241. Them the top engineer (Femistolkus Zalipaev) manufactures the first apparatus, that is called "cheater", that is short name of the official name Century Heater. The short name is "translated" into Russian as Сплeтник, and transliterated back into English as Spletnik; this name becomes the usual term to call the device.




Am-241, Relaxation heat