[syhprum (OP)]

There are many isotopes of Plutonium some more useful than others I have seen $4000 per gram quoted is this the most costly?

[alancalverd]

Seems a bit expensive for raw material. The longer-lived and nonfissile isotopes are useful e.g. as check sources in nuclear medicine but the cost is mostly that of incorporating it in a precise, secure and calibrated product. Security is important because it is chemically active and extremely toxic.

[paul cotter]

P238 for a heat source and 239 for reactors and bombs are the main two. There are several others without significant uses as far as I know. The price for these two isotopes would be quite different, I would think. Becoming an authorised buyer would be next to impossible.

[paul cotter]

Alancalverd, I would think the base price would be significantly lower and much of the added cost would derive from the safety rules and regs , being such an outrageously hazardous material. Again this would depend on the isotope and required isotopic purity.

[Bored chemist]

I suspect that becoming an authorised buyer is more expensive than the plutonium.
Having said that, you can obviously get it for free. The atom bomb testing distributed lots of it round the world; you just have to find it and clean it up.

[Zer0]

lol Murphy!

Are you planning on buying some, inorder to promote World Peace?

P.S. - 😉

[evan_au]

With the end of the Cold War, reprocessing of nuclear fuel has greatly reduced, which has reduced the supply of the isotope Pu-238 as used in space probes.

NASA was having trouble guaranteeing sufficient quantities, so the Juno probe to Jupiter carried very large solar panels in preference to thermo-electric generators.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)

The Curiosity rover had to survive long nights in a Martian winter, so it uses Pu-238 for electrical power and heating.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_(rover)