An international nuclear research institute near Moscow will launch a unique device in fall to hunt for elusive superheavy chemical elements, the institute’s deputy director told Sputnik.
“We are finishing the creation of a unique device, a huge installation called superheavy elements factory,” Boris Sharkov, from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), said.
The device stationed at JINR’s laboratory in the Russian town of Dubna will consist of a particle accelerator – the main piece of the kit called cyclotron DC-280 – as well as detectors, and spectrometers, which separate particles with a desired mass.
“DC-280 has already been created. It is being adjusted and new equipment clusters are being launched. The first beam tests are planned for this September so that we could get around to actual experiments by the end of this year,” Sharkov said.
Superheavy elements are produced through nuclear fusion by colliding nuclei.
Occasionally neutrons and protons stick together forming highly-unstable elements heavier than uranium that contain more than 92 protons.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
