Production of heavy nuclides in nuclear devices

Since the last Plowshare Symposium in 1964 a number of experiments have been carried out to study the production of heavy nuclei by rapid multiple neutron capture in specially designed nuclear devices. These experiments listed below were conducted underground at the Nevada Test Site and data were obtained radiochemically after sample recovery by drillback. The main characteristics of these experiments are 1) higher neutron fluxes than in the early events, 2) a variety of targets, including 238-U, 242-Pu, 237-Np, 243-Am, 232-Th, 3) the occurrence of an interesting 'reversal of the odd-even effect' in the mass yield curves, and 4) the absence of nuclei in the debris with (Z,A) greater than (100,257). Analysis of data from these experiments have led to capture cross sections for neutron-rich uranium isotopes (out to 249-U), and capture-to-fission ratios for the odd-A neutron-rich plutonium isotopes (out to 253-Pu). General studies of the fission process in neutron-rich nuclei have also been undertaken using the data from these experiments. The large amounts of 250Cm and 257Fm made in the recent Hutch experiment (∼1 x 1020 and ∼5 x 1017 atoms, respectively) make it scientifically exciting, and economically feasible, to mine and recover enough material to produce laboratory targets of these isotopes. These targets would be used in investigations of yet-undiscovered, short-lived isotopes of Fm, Md, and No, as well as the possible production of new isotopes of element 104 and even element 105. (author)