Plutonium

Papplewick Pumping Station was designed in the early 1880s to pump millions of gallons of clean fresh water every day to the rapidly increasing population of Industrial Nottingham.

It is the most spectacular, preserved water Pumping Station in the British Isles.

Now protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument the Pumping Station holds regular steaming events throughout the year, wedding ceremonies and education visits enabling the Trust to continue the essential preservation of this important site for future generations.

It can form up to seven different allotropes (crystal structures).

Famous scientist Enrico Fermi claimed he discovered element 94 in 1934, but it turned out to be a mixture of other elements including barium and krypton.

It was once thought that plutonium did not exist in nature, but trace amounts have been found in uranium ores.

Plutonium was used in several of the first atomic bombs, and is still used in nuclear weapons. The complete detonation of a kilogram of plutonium produces an explosion equivalent to over 10,000 tonnes of chemical explosive.