The transmutation is the transformation of a chemical element into another by a modification of the Atomic nucleus of the element. It is also called nuclear transmutation.

Nuclear physics

The transmutation of a Isotope of an element into another can is to occur naturally during a Chain decay, or to be caused, for example in a Nuclear reactor.

The natural transmutation of certain products from the nuclear reactors is extremely slow: for example, the Plutonium -239 very slowly transforms into Plomb through a long Chain decay several hundreds of thousands of years.

In France, the Loi Battles of the December 30th 1991 defines a research orientation, whose piloting was entrusted to ECA, on the transmutation of waste in long life of life resulting from the Nuclear plants. One calls upon the transmutation to transform radioactive isotopes with long life into isotopes with short life or stable isotopes in order to reduce the inventory in the long run radiotoxic radioactive waste.

However according to the deputy Christian Bataille, when one sends neutrons on a target, it never occurs only that sought reaction, and the effect of the parasitic reactions can sometimes withdraw all the interest of the operation . According to the dies considered, the waste processing by this method can strongly prove consumer of energy.

According to technology considered (reactor controlled by accelerator, fast reactor, etc), the energy assessment of the electrical production associated with the transmutation with waste can be very weak. Moreover, the transmutation is likely to manage only part of waste (fission product with long life, minor actinides) and donot can consider itself for waste MAVL for which another management style must be developed (for example, the storage in geological site).

History of the transmutation

Handling of transmutation of the alchemists rested on the empirical knowledge accumulated on the properties of the matter, with the wire of the millenia, by Mésopotamiens, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Chinese, essentially. Knowledge which they acquired and discoveries that they made were used as compost with the emergence of the Chimie, often by refutation. As example of discovered one can quote that of the Phosphore by the alchemist Hamburger Hennig Brandt, in 1669. More the good example of refutation is without question that of the phlogistique one which led Lavoisier to pose the conservation of the mass and to base the Chimie on a solid base. It is interesting to note that Sir Isaac Newton was regarded as an alchemist.

Esotericism

In Alchemy, the transmutation of the matter makes it possible to transform a substance into another, even an element in another (the elements are water, the ground, fire and the air). This operation was famous capacity being realized by an alchemist having a circle of transmutation or by the Philosopher's stone, element ultimate (the fifth element or Alkahest), which would have, for example, to transform not very invaluable metals into Or. The transmutation of the matter would proceed in two stages: the déconstruction of the matter then its rebuilding in another form. Nicolas Flamel would have carried out transmutations towards gold on several occasions according to its writings, however nothing makes it possible to affirm that the alchemical transmutation exceeded the framework of the speech esoteric.

Literature

Currently, the transmutation of the matter and alchemy are the source of inspiration of many works with success, such as “Harry Potter at the school of the wizards”, the series (Manga and Anime) “Hagane No renkinjutsushi (Fullmetal alchemist)”.

External bonds

• the transmutation of americium 24 is realizable? on Internet site of ECA

• Management of fuels irradiated on Internet site nuclear France of association Wise-Paris
• science fiction applied to waste to Internet site dissident-media.org

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