Charged particle transmutation products

With the development of nuclear reactors and charged particle accelerators (commonly referred to as atom smashers ) over the second half of the twentieth century, the transmutation of one element into another has become commonplace. In fact some two dozen synthetic elements with atomic numbers higher than naturally occurring uranium have been produced by nuclear transmutation reactions. Thus, in principle, it is possible to achieve the alchemist s dream of transmuting lead into gold, but the cost of production via nuclear transmutation reactions would far exceed the value of the gold. SEE ALSO Alchemy Nuclear Chemistry Nuclear Fission Radioactivity Transactinides. 

The fission products and Cs can be transformed into shorter lived or stable products by charged particle or neutron irradiation. Charged particle irradiation would be very expensive, and irradiation by reactor neutrons would produce almost as much fission products as are destroyed. Therefore the use of intense accelerator driven spallation neutron sources for transmutation by n-irradiation has been suggested. If controlled thermonuclear reactors (CTR) are developed, their excess neutrons could be used for Sr transformation, but less efficient for Cs. 

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