Production of Materials > 5. Nuclear Methods >
Describe how transuranic elements are produced
- Transuranic elements: Elements beyond uranium in the periodic table (having atomic numbers greater than 92).
- Transuranic elements do not occur naturally.
- Transuranic elements with atomic numbers 93 to 95 (neptunium, plutonium, and americium) are produced in nuclear reactors by bombarding natural elements with neutrons from produced in nuclear fission reactions.
- Transuranic elements with atomic numbers above 95 are produced by accelerating a relatively small nucleus in a charged particle accelerator to combine with a heavy nucleus.
Uranium and the transuranic elements