Editing Berkelium (section)

==Applications==
[[File:Berkelium.jpg|thumb|22 [[Kilogram#SI multiples|milligrams]] of berkelium (as [[berkelium(III) nitrate|nitrate]]) prepared at [[High Flux Isotope Reactor|HFIR]] in 2009 at a cost of approximately one million dollars, used for the synthesis of [[tennessine]] in [[Joint Institute for Nuclear Research|JINR]]<ref>[http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/finally-element-117-is-here.html Finally, Element 117 Is Here!] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030102347/http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/finally-element-117-is-here.html |date=30 October 2010 }}, Science Now, 7 April 2010</ref>|alt=A very small sample of a blue liquid in a plastic pipette held by a hand wearing heavy protection equipment]]
There is currently no use for any isotope of berkelium outside basic scientific research.<ref name="H&P" /> Berkelium-249 is a common target nuclide to prepare still heavier [[transuranium element]]s and [[superheavy element]]s,<ref name="Stwertka">Stwertka, Albert. ''A Guide to the Elements'', Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 211. {{ISBN|0-19-508083-1}}</ref> such as [[lawrencium]], [[rutherfordium]] and [[bohrium]].<ref name="H&P" /> It is also useful as a source of the isotope californium-249, which is used for studies on the chemistry of [[californium]] in preference to the more radioactive californium-252 that is produced in neutron bombardment facilities such as the HFIR.<ref name="H&P" /><ref>{{cite book|first = Richard G.|last = Haire|contribution = Californium|title = The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements|editor1-first = Lester R.|editor1-last = Morss|editor2-first = Norman M.|editor2-last = Edelstein|editor3-first = Jean|editor3-last = Fuger|edition = 3rd|date = 2006|volume = 3|publisher = Springer|location = Dordrecht, the Netherlands|pages = 1499–1576|url = http://radchem.nevada.edu/classes/rdch710/files/californium.pdf|doi = 10.1007/1-4020-3598-5_11|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100717154045/http://radchem.nevada.edu/classes/rdch710/files/californium.pdf|archive-date = 17 July 2010|isbn = 978-1-4020-3555-5}}</ref>

A 22&nbsp;milligram batch of berkelium-249 was prepared in a 250-day irradiation and then purified for 90 days at Oak Ridge in 2009. This target yielded the first 6 atoms of [[tennessine]] at the [[Joint Institute for Nuclear Research]] (JINR), [[Dubna]], Russia, after bombarding it with calcium ions in the U400 cyclotron for 150 days. This synthesis was a culmination of the Russia-US collaboration between JINR and [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] on the synthesis of elements 113 to 118 which was initiated in 1989.<ref>[https://str.llnl.gov/OctNov10/shaughnessy.html Collaboration Expands the Periodic Table, One Element at a Time] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718033621/https://str.llnl.gov/OctNov10/shaughnessy.html |date=18 July 2011 }}, Science and Technology Review, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, October/November 2010</ref><ref>[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406181611.htm Nuclear Missing Link Created at Last: Superheavy Element 117], Science daily, 7 April 2010</ref>