Scientists Discover 1st 'Neutron-Rich' Isotope of Uranium Since 1979 (livescience.com) 18
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Live Science: Scientists have discovered and synthesized an entirely new isotope of the highly radioactive element uranium. But it might last only 40 minutes before decaying into other elements. The new isotope, uranium-241, has 92 protons (as all uranium isotopes do) and 149 neutrons, making it the first new neutron-rich isotope of uranium discovered since 1979. While atoms of a given element always have the same number of protons, different isotopes, or versions, of those elements may hold different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei. To be considered neutron-rich, an isotope must contain more neutrons than is common to that element.
"We measured the masses of 19 different actinide isotopes with a high precision of one part per million level, including the discovery and identification of the new uranium isotope," Toshitaka Niwase(opens in new tab), a researcher at the High-energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) Wako Nuclear Science Center (WNSC) in Japan, told Live Science in an email. "This is the first new discovery of a uranium isotope on the neutron-rich side in over 40 years." Niwase is the lead author of a study on the new uranium isotope, which was published March 31 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Niwase and colleagues created the uranium-241 by firing a sample of uranium-238 at platinum-198 nuclei at Japan's RIKEN accelerator. The two isotopes then swapped neutrons and protons — a phenomenon called "multinucleon transfer." The team then measured the mass of the created isotopes by observing the time it took the resulting nuclei to travel a certain distance through a medium. The experiment also generated 18 new isotopes, all of which contained between 143 and 150 neutrons.
"We measured the masses of 19 different actinide isotopes with a high precision of one part per million level, including the discovery and identification of the new uranium isotope," Toshitaka Niwase(opens in new tab), a researcher at the High-energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) Wako Nuclear Science Center (WNSC) in Japan, told Live Science in an email. "This is the first new discovery of a uranium isotope on the neutron-rich side in over 40 years." Niwase is the lead author of a study on the new uranium isotope, which was published March 31 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Niwase and colleagues created the uranium-241 by firing a sample of uranium-238 at platinum-198 nuclei at Japan's RIKEN accelerator. The two isotopes then swapped neutrons and protons — a phenomenon called "multinucleon transfer." The team then measured the mass of the created isotopes by observing the time it took the resulting nuclei to travel a certain distance through a medium. The experiment also generated 18 new isotopes, all of which contained between 143 and 150 neutrons.
Breaking news ? (Score:2)
Niwase acknowledged that uranium-241 probably doesn't have many useful practical or scientific implementations, as the isotope is created in extremely small numbers.
So this is news. But where is the stuff that matters?
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/. is just a copy-paste news aggregator nowdays. Nothing here matters.
Re:Breaking news ? (Score:5, Funny)
But it's NEWS about MATTER. How can it NOT qualify?
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Niwase acknowledged that uranium-241 probably doesn't have many useful practical or scientific implementations, as the isotope is created in extremely small numbers.
So this is news. But where is the stuff that matters?
This is definitely stuff that matters. It's physics. It's filling in details. Large nucleons are still very much terra incognita, from what I understand as an educated lay person (https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.12649).
The best part (which the LiveScience article doesn't talk about) is that this research was done at KEK in Japan using a facility with the whimsical acronym of KISS. Given the Japanese origin, I'm not convinced they knew about the Stupid version, but it still titillates that physicists just mig
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Yes, but is it interesting to slashdot readers? There are tens, or even hundreds, of research papers published every day, each one important in its own way to advance science.
This one does not look like a breakthrough (I must admit I only read the summary, but even the authors seem to not make a big deal of it).
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YOU are the one bringing that shit here. If you've got an axe to grind, don't worry, soon you'll get another shot at the people that won an argument against you.
Uranium Is Classified As Mildly Radioactive (Score:4, Informative)
Many if not all of its isotopes are somewhat more radioactive, and it is considered a carcinogen (dusts etc.). It is also similar to lead in its toxicity, as a heavy metal. However its isotope U235 isfissile, meaning it can sustain a chain reaction decomposition, which is why it is used as nuclear fuel, and can be used in bombs. Of note, U238 can be used in some reactors for generating electricity without enrichment, such as the Canadian built CANDU reactors. This makes CANDU better in terms of not needing enrichment, and therefore not creating weapons grade isotopes.
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U-238 is not fissile and does not provide energy in a CANDU heavy-water reactor[1]. All the heavy lifting is done by the 0.6% or so U-235 in natural uranium. In practice most CANDUs use enriched fuel since it has a better return on investment compared to natural uranium (longer periods between refuelling operations, fewer fuel assemblies needed over time etc.)
[1] Okay, there's the case where U-238 atoms are transmuted into Pu-239 and subsequently fissioned but that's not the main energy source from a fuel l
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An enrichment system can be modified from civil levels of enrichment to weaponisable levels of enrichment, but that is not the only way of creating weapons-grade isotopes.
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> but that is not the only way of creating weapons-grade isotopes.
It's not even the main way. Hasn't been for a long, long time. PU-239 is created by shorting the fuel cycle of a standard Uranium power generation reactor. Pu-239 is a byproduct of U-235 fission interacting and transmuting U-238 into Pu-239. You just short the fuel cycle before the Pu-239 gets burned off, and chemically separate it from the remain fuel. As an added bonus the fuel can be reprocessed and reused again since the main reaction
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A certain number of neutrons and or protons spall off the shattered nucleus.
As a car analogy, if you crash two cars together very hard they may fuse together, the break apart into unequal chunks, but lots of smaller parts will also go flying.
This does not explain the car bumper draped over a nearby fence post though. No accident was reported there, so its purpose is unclear, a mystery of country living. :-).
Some might suggest it was "discovered" twice (Score:2)
Just sayin'