New type of radioactive decay of atomic nuclei

A new type of natural radioactivity-spontaneous escape of carbon-14 nuclei from radium 223 - is discussed. The measurement technique used in IAE named after I.V.Kurchatov is briefly described. 227Ac source, in which 223Ra isotope is in radioactive equilibrium with actinium decay products, was chosen to search for 223Ra isotope decay with the escape of radiocarbon nuclei 223Ra → 14C + 209Pb. The ratio of 14C nuclei yield to the yield of α particles in 223Ra is (7.6 ± 3.0) x 10-10, which agrees well with the value (8.5 ± 2.5) x 10-10, which has been obtained by the group of researchers from Oxford