1.   This was a crude nuclear reactor whose job was simply to produce plutonium for the manufacture of atomic bombs.

2.   The Russian government has ordered the closure of two nuclear reactors producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, sited outside the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

3.   American officials have said the reactor at Khushab mostly produces plutonium for weapons and can generate enough plutonium for one atomic bomb a year.

4.   Both countries are moving to deploy new missiles, and Pakistan is completing a new plant to produce plutonium.

5.   A reactor that does not produce much plutonium would be useful in the United States as well.

6.   But a break-up of the consortium could induce North Korea to resume construction of nuclear reactors that produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, officials said.

7.   By contrast, a conventional light-water nuclear reactor burns uranium and uses it up, producing some plutonium as waste product.

8.   Conventional reactors, using uranium and ordinary water, produce some plutonium but consume uranium faster.

9.   Even as they generate electricity, they produce more plutonium than they consume by converting some uranium in the fuel to plutonium.

10.   If the rods are reprocessed, they could produce enough plutonium for several weapons.