US Oak Ridge National Laboratory Advances New Process to Boost Californium-252 Production
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), under the US Department of Energy, is advancing a new Californium-252 (Cf-252) separation process to address growing market demand. The laboratory stated that this process, developed over nearly a decade of research, is expected to shorten the Cf-252 production cycle by about one week, significantly improving processing efficiency without altering product quality. Californium-252 is a neutron-emitting radioisotope used in nuclear reactor startup, fuel testing for new reactors, as well as in oil well logging, coal analysis, port security, fuel rod scanners, and instrument calibration. ORNL noted that it is the only producer of Cf-252 in the Western world...
2026-08-05
