-3~
R. W. Hoff, J. E. Evans, and R. W. Lougheed.
.f-life that is surprisingly long for such a
nt,
80 days.
£3
,
Its discovery supports recent
at relatively long-lived isotopes may exist
aium, element 100, and that nuclear explosives
e to make them.
Foster said foreseeable technology in nuclear
s development indicates the method can suppleslerators and reactors in the discovery, prostudy and practical use of the heavy elements.
cular, nuclear explosives may be a means for disj new elements and for producing a spectrum of
otopes that are not obtained by other methods.
jr. Foster pointed out nuclear explosives fit into
onal program for the production of ultra-heavy elein significant quantity. A major facility in this
am is the special high neutron-flux reactor which is
nder construction at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The High Flux Isotope Reactor,
HFIR, when completed
. produce significant quantities of isotopes of, the
rents at least up through atomic number 100.
Most of the heavy elements beyond uranium have been
rovered initially with accelerators. Microquantities
transplutonium elements have been produced in the AEC'‘s
rials testing reactor in Idaho. And isotopes pro-~
iced at Idaho,
for example, Californium-252,
have been
sed as targets in accelerators for the discovery of elenents beyond 100.
So far, the discovery of 103 elements
nas been verified,
and heavier ones are being soucht
with accelerators at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory,
Berkeley,
and in Russia.
Nuclear explosives now promise to extend this effort.
For example, californium-252 may become available from the
HFIR in sufficient quantities to serve as a target in underground nuclear explosions. The aim would be to make,
discover, and study elements in the region of element 105
and higher, which have never been created.
In addition,
the instantaneous addition of many neu-
trons to a nucleus produces a spectrum of isotopes different
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