32.6 Exercise 17

Breeding plutonium produces energy even before any plutonium is fissioned. (The primary purpose of the four nuclear reactors at Chernobyl was breeding plutonium for weapons. Electrical power was a by-product used by the civilian population.) Calculate the energy produced in each of the reactions listed for plutonium breeding just following the example. The pertinent masses are $m \left(^{\text{239}} \text{U}\right) = \text{239}.\text{054289 u}$, $m \left(^{\text{239}} \text{Np}\right) = \text{239}.\text{052932 u}$, and $m \left(^{\text{239}} \text{Pu}\right) = \text{239}.\text{052157 u}$.