Horizons of scientific search

Nuclear physics, geochemistry and space

At the end of March, FLNR Scientific Leader RAS Academician Yu.Ts.Oganessian and Head of Department of VBLHEP Professor A.I.Malakhov met with Chief Designer of Space Nuclear Facilities D.Sc. V.P.Smetannikov.

They discussed a unique natural phenomenon referenced in the article "Primordial xenon (Protoxenon)" by V.P.Smetannikov, A.N.Orlov and V.D.Shapovalov in the journal "RENSIT: Radioelectronics. Nanosystems. Information Technologies" in 2025.

The history of xenon application as an inert gas in the development of new technologies is outlined in this article. It is shown that at present, there is a pent-up demand due to the limited production volume and high cost of xenon produced by traditional technologies from the atmosphere that results in the need to search for new sources of this gas. The technology of xenon production from associated petroleum gas has been proposed and implemented, more than fifteen fields have been studied for the possibility of its extraction, samples have been taken and for the first time in the world, xenon of underground origin has been obtained. The most important result is that the xenon content of associated petroleum gas is five orders of magnitude higher than that of the Earth's atmosphere. The technique of obtaining xenon from associated gas has been patented by the authors of the article.

Of particular interest was the fact that the isotopic composition of xenon from associated petroleum gas differs completely from atmospheric gas. This fact was mainly the subject of discussion at the meeting. The nature of this phenomenon is still unclear. A number of scientists assume that there is a different radiation process, combining both spontaneous fission of uranium, traditional processes of uranium fission under the action of neutrons and radiation processes of fission of heavier unknown elements. The possibility of occurrence of an element with a much higher relative atomic mass is also suggested and there is a hypothesis that there is a reactor at the centre of the Earth near the nucleus.

Yu.Ts.Oganessian expressed the view that all these assumptions cannot explain the observed difference in the isotopic composition of atmospheric and underground xenon. It was suggested to carry out a deeper analysis of the data obtained. However, in any case, this issue is of great interest and requires further research.

More than a hundred years have passed since the discovery of xenon and for many years it was practically not used. In the early 1960s, the tasks of space exploration required new engineering solutions for efficient low-power engines and development of electric jet engines started, with xenon being the optimal working body. Intensive work also began on the practical application of this gas in medicine, not only as an anesthetic agent, but also in therapy.

Xenon becomes one of the basic components that fundamentally determine the development of high technologies in industry, medicine, agriculture, life support systems in extreme situations and its production volumes no longer provide consumers. There is a constantly growing pent-up demand. Thus, the authors' proposal to obtain xenon from associated petroleum gas has great prospects.

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