Hafnium controversy

The hafnium controversy was a debate over the possibility of "triggering" rapid energy releases, via gamma-ray emission, from 178m2Hf, a nuclear isomer of hafnium. The energy release per event is 5 orders of magnitude (100,000 times) higher than in a typical chemical reaction, but 2 orders of magnitude less than a nuclear fission reaction. In 1998, a group led by Carl Collins in the University of Texas at Dallas reported[1][2] having successfully initiated such a trigger. Signal-to-noise ratios were small in those first experiments, and to date no other group has been able to reproduce these results. Peter Zimmerman (an American nuclear physicist and arms-control expert) described claims of weaponization potential as having been based on "very bad science".[3]

  1. ^ Collins, C. B., Davanloo, F., Iosif, M.; et al. (1999). "Accelerated Emission of Gamma Rays from the 31-yr Isomer of 178Hf Induced by X-Ray Irradiation". Physical Review Letters. 82 (4): 695–698. Bibcode:1999PhRvL..82..695C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.695.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Collins, C. B., Davanloo, F., Rusu, A. C.; et al. (2000). "Gamma emission from the 31-yr isomer of 178Hf induced by x-ray irradiation". Physical Review C. 61 (5): 054305–054305–7. Bibcode:2000PhRvC..61e4305C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.61.054305.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Peter Zimmerman (June 2007). "The Strange Tale of the Hafnium Bomb: A Personal Narrative". American Physical Society. Retrieved 5 March 2016.