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Title: Testing the Physics of Nuclear Isomers

Abstract

For much of the past century, physicists have searched for methods to control the release of energy stored in an atom's nucleus. Nuclear fission reactors have been one successful approach, but finding other methods to capitalize on this potential energy source have been elusive. One possible source being explored is nuclear isomers. An isomer is a long-lived excited state of an atom's nucleus--a state in which decay back to the nuclear ground state is inhibited. The nucleus of an isomer thus holds an enormous amount of energy. If scientists could develop a method to release that energy instantaneously in a gamma-ray burst, rather than slowly over time, they could use it in a nuclear battery. Research in the late 1990s indicated that scientists were closer to developing such a method--using x rays to trigger the release of energy from the nuclear isomer hafnium-178m ({sup 178m}Hf). To further investigate these claims, the Department of Energy (DOE) funded a collaborative project involving Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Argonne national laboratories that was designed to reproduce those earlier results.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
883612
Report Number(s):
UCRL-TR-218474
TRN: US200615%%177
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; DECAY; EXCITED STATES; FISSION; GROUND STATES; ISOMERS; PHYSICS; POTENTIAL ENERGY; TESTING

Citation Formats

Hazi, A. Testing the Physics of Nuclear Isomers. United States: N. p., 2006. Web. doi:10.2172/883612.
Hazi, A. Testing the Physics of Nuclear Isomers. United States. doi:10.2172/883612.
Hazi, A. Wed . "Testing the Physics of Nuclear Isomers". United States. doi:10.2172/883612. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/883612.
@article{osti_883612,
title = {Testing the Physics of Nuclear Isomers},
author = {Hazi, A},
abstractNote = {For much of the past century, physicists have searched for methods to control the release of energy stored in an atom's nucleus. Nuclear fission reactors have been one successful approach, but finding other methods to capitalize on this potential energy source have been elusive. One possible source being explored is nuclear isomers. An isomer is a long-lived excited state of an atom's nucleus--a state in which decay back to the nuclear ground state is inhibited. The nucleus of an isomer thus holds an enormous amount of energy. If scientists could develop a method to release that energy instantaneously in a gamma-ray burst, rather than slowly over time, they could use it in a nuclear battery. Research in the late 1990s indicated that scientists were closer to developing such a method--using x rays to trigger the release of energy from the nuclear isomer hafnium-178m ({sup 178m}Hf). To further investigate these claims, the Department of Energy (DOE) funded a collaborative project involving Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Argonne national laboratories that was designed to reproduce those earlier results.},
doi = {10.2172/883612},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 25 00:00:00 EST 2006},
month = {Wed Jan 25 00:00:00 EST 2006}
}

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