Plutonium is an artificial,radioactive, metallic and toxic chemical element. It has only two main uses: a source of nuclear energy and a source of nuclear weaponry. It is very sought after by terrorists and various developing nations for their plans of nuclear arms production. The “Fat Man” bomb dropped in Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 that killed 40,000 people instantly and killed thousands more in the following years from fallout, consisted of a plutonium-239 core.

In 2008, the price of plutonium has drastically increased since the 1990s, but was relatively expensive during the Cold War. Over the last three weeks, the price of weapon-grade plutonium has surged 200 dollars to 4000 dollars per gram, or even more for rarer grades. By these estimates, the mass plutonium needed for the average nuclear bomb, or about 6 kg goes for about thirty-one million dollars.

So one day if your inner-terrorist decides to come out, remember this very important fact: plutonium is extremely expensive. Its super high price of several thousands of dollars per gram means that in most cases a single terrorist would not be able to afford it. But a terrorist organization and a national government in today's world could easily afford it.

Andrew Morel -- 2008