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Supplying the Nuclear Arsenal: American Production Reactors, 1942-1992

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Correction to the Booknews review shown above: that's "tritium", not "titanium".

Tritium is 1-H-3, the one-proton, two-neutron isotope of hydrogen that is the primary source of explosive energy in the hydrogen bomb.

Titanium is a light, strong metallic element used in the pressure hulls of some Soviet submarine designs near the end of the first Cold War. It occurs naturally in ores that can be mined, is not naturally radioactive, doesn't undergo fission or fusion, and is not a nuclear fuel. Unlike plutonium (which does not occur naturally in useful quantities) and tritium (which undergoes rapid radioactive decay and must be replaced periodically), there is no reason to build a nuclear reactor to produce titanium.

This book is a fascinating glimpse of the nuclear weapons reactor infrastructure dealing with the production of the transuranic (man-made) element Plutonium. It covers the period from the invention of the process through the shutdown of the last reactor, including the technical AND political battles to preserve/expand production capacity or terminate it. It does NOT detail the chemical separation or metalurgical processes.