New Short-Lived Uranium Isotope Discovered Through Multinucleon Transfer

Scientists have produced Uranium-241 for the first time, filling a gap in the long list of the heavy metal’s isotopes. The new isotope has a half-life of around 40 minutes, making it long enough to study its properties. Uranium-241's discovery is the first for an isotope at the heavier end of the scale since 1979. When U-241 decays it releases beta rays, converting one of its abundant supply of neutrons to a proton and forming neptunium-241, which in turn lasts for about 14 minutes before becoming plutonium-241 through the same decay process.