Ask A Scientist© Physics Archive

>
> >    name         mahezabeen
> >    age          15
>
> >    Question -   HOW TRANSURANIC ELEMEMTS ARE PRODUCED IN NUCLEAR REACTORS
> >
>Uranium is the largest/heaviest atom that occurs naturally.  It has the most
>protons.  A transuranic element has more protons than uranium.  In a nuclear
>reactor that produces "transuranic" elements, neutrons are collided with the
>uranium.  These neutrons will sometimes stick to the uranium, making it a
>heavier version of uranium.  Because the heavier uranium has too many
>neutrons, a neutron experiences "beta decay".  It turns into a proton and an
>electron, making the atom transuranic.  Plutonium is such an element.
Mellendorf

=========================================================
>Nuclear reactors produce lots of neutrons from fission reactions. Some of
>these neutrons are captured by heavy nuclei, such as uranium-238. This
>makes a new nucleus with the same atomic number but a higher atomic mass.
>Some of these new heavier nuclei can then convert to nuclei of other
>elements by beta decay, in which one neutron converts to a proton, an
>electron (beta particle), and an electron anti-neutrino (usually
>undetectable). So the mass of the nucleus stays about the same, but the
>number of neutrons goes down by one and the number of protons goes up by
>one. Plutonium-239, for instance, is produced by on electron capture by
>uranium-238 followed by two beta decays:
>
>U-238 + n --> U-239 --> Np-239 + beta --> Pu-239 + beta
>
>Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D.
>Assistant Director
>PG Research Foundation, Darien, Illinois

=========================================================