Tag Archive for 'Plutonium'

To make livermorium, Gates et al. fused isotopes of titanium and plutonium. Image credit: Jenny Nuss, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Livermorium: Physicists Find Novel Way to Produce Element 116

Apr 7, 2025 by News Staff

Using Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 88-Inch Cyclotron, an international team of physicists has successfully made two atoms of livermorium (atomic...

The region of the nuclear chart 87≤Z≤97 and 112≤N≤136 shows the new isotope plutonium-227 (red star) and the 12 nuclides (blue star) that were discovered at the Institute of Modern Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Image credit: Huabin Yang.

Physicists Synthesize New Isotope of Plutonium

Oct 11, 2024 by News Staff

The newly-discovered isotope, plutonium-227, has a half-life of 0.78 seconds, according to a team of physicists from China. The region of the nuclear chart...

An artist’s rendition of a supernova explosion. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / L. Calcada / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Nearby Supernovae Caused Late Devonian Extinctions, Scientists Say

Aug 19, 2020 by News Staff

Multiple supernova explosions about 65 light-years away may have contributed to the ozone depletion and several subsequent extinction events at the Devonian-Carboniferous...

A plutonium dioxide nanoparticle. Image credit: Kristina Kvashnina.

Physicists Create Unexpected New Form of Plutonium

Oct 21, 2019 by News Staff

Physicists using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility have created a new compound of plutonium (Pu) with an unexpected, pentavalent oxidation state...

$Photograph of X-ray diffraction quality single-crystals of [K(2.2.2-cryptand)]{PuII[C5H3(SiMe3)2]3}, [K(crypt)][PuIICp’’3]. Image credit: Cory J. Windorff et al, doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b00706.$

Chemists Discover New Oxidation State of Plutonium

Mar 28, 2017 by News Staff

A team of chemists from the University of California, Irvine, and Los Alamos National Laboratory has created a new oxidation state, Pu+2, of the transuranic...

This image shows a pellet of plutonium-238 dioxide. The pellet is glowing red because of the heat generated by the radioactive decay (primarily alpha) of the fuel. Such pellets were used in radioisotope thermoelectric generators that powered NASA’s Galilleo and Cassini spacecraft on missions to Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. Image credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Plutonium Acts Like Ions in a Salt, New Study Shows

Sep 16, 2016 by News Staff

Plutonium, a heavy, silvery metal with 15 isotopes that is produced by the neutron irradiation of natural uranium, is formidably complex element that does...

Plutonium-238 sphere under its own light. With a half-life of 89 years, plutonium-238 is being used in space applications requiring a power source with a long service life. Plutonium-238 has a relatively high heat production rate which makes it useful as a power source. Image credit: DoE.

Plutonium’s Magnetism Confirmed in New Study

Jul 13, 2015 by News Staff

Physicists at the DoE’s Los Alamos and Oak Ridge national laboratories have made the first direct measurements of a unique characteristic of plutonium’s...

Astronomers have reported near-infrared interferometric measurements of the angular size of Nova Delphini 2013, starting one day after the explosion and continuing with extensive time coverage during the first 43 days. The image shows Tycho's supernova remnant. Image credit: X-ray - NASA / CXC / SAO; infrared - NASA / JPL-Caltech; optical - MPIA / Calar Alto / O.Krause et al.

Interstellar Plutonium-244 in Ocean Floor Dust Could Alter Current Understanding of Supernovae

Jan 21, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers plumbing the depths of the ocean have made a finding that could change the way we understand massive stellar explosions called supernovae. The...