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8 6 The Knoxville.News-Sentinel.< Monday. February 1.. 1988 r I* c., They genehlly insert targets of curium-244’,into the reactor for quires only th6 passing through of ’ several other curium isotopes and berkelium. before reaching caliContinued from page B l I of the table are created by the addition of neutrons to the nucleus, Some of those neutrons, through a Still, the curium targets must at the high end I be left in the pact or chamber for about 18 months to achieve appreciable quantities of, cali for ni - change to protons. “ $ 0 ~might begm wiih 9 grams Each time a neutron is added,,, of a‘guriuq-244 target and out of the isotope of an elerhent changes.- that b r g e t only get 10 or 15 milliWhen a proton is created, the ele- -. grams (thousandths of a gram) of To get from uranium-238 to same time, however, some of the californium-252, 14 neutrons have hi&her curium isotopes can be reto be added to the nucleus. covered from the, material and That’s not an. easy task, .be- -put back into the reactor, he said. to their predecessors on the pen: , Orice the material is T h e job is made possible by reerates the highest continuous _-- ed the way decay quickly*’, quire only six t o nine months to 6 from $e reactor, it is put into a during thaf. time they revert tback , about 5 million billion neutrons to feed their m e d i d pass through a square centimeter of. the, reactor’s chamber each. their production rate Continued from page B1 following questions ma ful: “Is your vision blu there a bright flash of lowed by temporary bl is there a gradual gray: ing of eyesight? Does ness or paralysis str place, such as an arm does it seem to travel ’ The more specific, tt will be for the doctor mine if the cause is : ischemic attack or One of the most prescribed remedies is oldest drugs in the me nak aspirin, which dim tendency of the blood cases of severe clottinp may be prescribed. is usually an important treatment, since it can verse the accumulatio deposits in arteries. study in monkeys sholow-fat diet can reduce spasms in artenes to th Reaching and mail normal body weight is i tant t o keeping cholest low. If the blood chole! remains high despite I and a careful diet, may be prescribed. Tr bring high blood, pres tracted from t h e reactor target: with acids and other products. The work takes place remotely in a series of heavily shielded “hot chanical arms, technicians manipulate the material from behind 4% feet of glass and mineral oil used to block the radiation and absorb When the final product is placed into containers, excruciating efforts are conducted to make sure no californium is left on the outside. Even the slightest trace would pose a radiation hazard under less shielded circumstances. It is then stored in a pool of water. Not just anyone, of couise, can purchase californium It requires a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and proof that one has the facilities necessary to A t one time a reactor a t the Plant in South Carolina was used to produce californium, and the plant maintained lab facilities necessary to process the material. ORNL now handles the entire load, except for fabrication of to house californium sources in With the time and expense involved, Oak Ridge officials can’t afford to be frivolous in their proable feed material and also taking chamber and bombarded by.. the