CALIFORNIUM 252

For a better understanding of the element listed above, let’s delve for a moment into its initial story of how the neutron source came to be: 

Creation

 

Namely, you cannot just stumble upon some Californium (or its isotopes) in nature - the element just doesn’t exist in nature (more on this later). Rather, it is an element made in a laboratory, more so at the University of California in Berkeley, by the team of Albert Ghiorso, Glenn Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson and Kenneth Street. The radioactive source came to be when they fired alpha helium particles (with zero electrons) targeting Curium, in 1950. This resulted in a reaction popularly known as “atom smashing”, which caused free Helium atoms to become parts of Curium atoms. This in turn added the atom number of both the atoms (2 and 96 respectively) and created a new atom with an atom number 98. The new formed substance was quickly named after its place of origin. 

 

And while it doesn’t occur naturally, one can find traces of it in supernovae explosions (a questionable claim). Also, the substance was being produced a long time ago (2 billion years to be precise) through several natural nuclear reactors which “operated” in Africa.

 

Properties

It is a high radioactive element, and it’s also a nominal transuranium metallic element, in turn meaning that it stands higher than Uranium (atom number 92) on the periodic table of elements. It’s also true that it is one of the few transuranium elements having its way in practical uses. These methods vary through multiple industrial fields. For example, the radioactive source can be used to start nuclear reactors, to inspect baggage, to tests bone health or even to treat different types of cancer. However, when utilized in the body, it should be noted that it can disrupt the normal functioning of red blood cells through a process known as bioaccumulation. 

 

Isotopes

The neutron source has around twenty isotopes (variations of the same element), the most stable of them being 251 (898 years of half-life), as opposed to Californium-252 (2.64 years of half-life). The 252 is very high in radioactivity, “glowing” 2.3 million neutrons in a second per one milligram of the isotope element. It also undergoes through a phase known as “alpha decay” (atoms’ nucleus falling apart). It creates Curium-248 (going minus 2 on the periodic table of elements and minus 4 in the mass number). Californium-252 also has the strange property of spitting neutrons while breaking apart (usually isotopes don’t behave this way), which makes it that much interesting for research. 

 

Production

It is made in laboratories, i.e. particle accelerators or nuclear reactors. When Berkelium-249 gets bombarded with neutrons in turn starts to produce Berkelium-250 and via beta decays Californium-250 (transformation of a proton into a neutron, or the other way around). Furthermore, Californium-250 gives birth to 251 and 252, through the same process described above. The 252 is currently produced at two places only: the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (Russia) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (USA). By the end of 2003, Russia’s institute made 0.025 grams while USA’s Oak Ridge produced ten times more, i.e. 0.25 grams of the substance. 

 

Medical precautions

As already mentioned, it is an extremely radioactive element. Therefore, scientists who work with it are often advised to use all precautions described by special regulations, especially when it comes to wielding the element. When exposed to even minuscule doses of 252, a human body can become damaged in the genetic area, making cumulative, damaging effects to future generations without irreversible effects. 

 

Particularly dangerous are extended exposures to the element, which can cause cancer, leukemia, deformities and fertility problems, to name a few. It also makes an impact not only on humans, but on all living beings in Earth’s ecosystem.