[DB]

Supposedly there’s a substantial amount of Plutonium in reactor #3, is that not true? They were using it to recycle nuclear weapons so the claim is.

[sefarkas]

Supposedly ...

Sorry, I thought I was being clear. Unit #3 was loaded with MOX fuel. The non-zero amount of Pu that MOX fuel starts with is either from retired weapons, or Pu extracted from spent fuel at the Japanese reprocessing facility. In any event, it is typical and normal for light-water-reactors to burn Pu during a fuel cycle. It is easier to fission Pu than U235 in the context of it takes less mass of Pu to create a critical (self-sustaining fission reaction) as compared to a self-sustaining Uranium process. In both cases, control rods with boron in them stop the fission reaction. The decay heat production rate is nearly the same with MOX fuel bundles and their Uranium cousins -- which is why they can be used in a commercial reactor without having to modify the reactor system.