"..which includes uranium and plutonium.."Uranium and plutonioum...

"..which includes uranium and plutonium.."


Uranium and plutonioum are not rare earths.
Furthermore plutonium does not naturally exit. It is a man made element. The only place that you will find it is in breeder reactors, nuclear weapons etc

The rare earths and some uses are(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element)
scandium, yttrium, and the fifteen lanthanides, namely -
57 La Lanthanum from the Greek "lanthanon," meaning I am hidden. High refractive index glass, flint, hydrogen storage, battery-electrode, camera lens
58 Ce Cerium for the dwarf planet Ceres. chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powder, yellow colors in glass and ceramics, catalyst for Self-cleaning oven etc.
59 Pr Praseodymium from the Greek "praso," meaning leek-green, and "didymos," meaning twin. Rare-earth magnets, laser, green colors in glass and ceramics, flint
60 Nd Neodymium from the Greek "neo," meaning new-one, and "didymos," meaning twin. Rare-earth magnets, laser, violet colors in glass and ceramics, ceramic capacitor
61 Pm Promethium for the Titan Prometheus, who brought fire to mortals. Nuclear battery
62 Sm Samarium for Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, who discovered the rare earth ore samarskite. Rare-earth magnets, Laser, neutron capture, maser
63 Eu Europium for the continent of Europe. Red and blue phosphors, laser, mercury-vapor lamp
64 Gd Gadolinium for Johan Gadolin (17601852), to honor his investigation of rare earths. Rare-earth magnets, high refractive index glass or garnets, laser, x-ray tube, computer memory, neutron capture
65 Tb Terbium for the village of Ytterby, Sweden, where the first rare earth ore was discovered. Green phosphors, laser, fluorescent lamp
66 Dy Dysprosium from the Greek "dysprositos," meaning hard to get. Rare-earth magnets, laser,
67 Ho Holmium for Stockholm (in Latin, "Holmia"), native city of one of its discoverers. Laser
68 Er Erbium for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. Laser, vanadium steel
69 Tm Thulium for the mythological land of Thule. Portable X-ray machine
70 Yb Ytterbium for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. Infrared Laser, chemical reducing agent, High-temperature superconductors (YBCO)
71 Lu Lutetium for Lutetia, the city which later became Paris.