Californium-249 Disc (10 mg)
Despite its high price, Californium-252 plays a fundamental role in the medical and, above all, nuclear industries. It is a synthetic isotope belonging to actinides, which requires unique infrastructures in the world to obtain,
It does not appear in financial rankings or in luxury showcases, but its value exceeds any known reference. THE Californio-252 It is considered the most expensive material in the world available for industrial usel, with a price of around 23 million euros per gram.
Its importance is crucial in areas such as nuclear energy, medicine and advanced scientific research, says the . Unlike gold or diamonds, this element does not existand in a natural way.
Californio-252 is a synthetic isotope of California (249Cf)belonging to the actinides, and created exclusively in the laboratory through highly complex nuclear processes. Obtaining it requires unique infrastructure in the world, which limits its production to tiny quantities.
From a physical point of view, it is a silver white metalsoft and theoretically malleable. However, its use is subject to a period of half-life of just 2.6 yearswhich means that the material disintegrates quickly and requires constant production to guarantee its availability.
A synthesis of Californium-252 It is carried out by bombarding curium targets in specialized nuclear reactors for years. In practice, only the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in the USA, and an equivalent center in Russia have the necessary technology for this process, which is considered inefficient and expensive.
After years of irradiation, the result translates into just a few milligrams usable, in addition to the need to handle the material with shielded systems due to its high radiation — a determining factor for its price to exceed 27 million dollars per gramaround 23 million euros.
This value makes Californium-252 the most expensive element we have at our disposal, despite the difficulty of its production. In reality, the most expensive material in the world is something even more bizarre and unattainable: antimatterwhich would cost something like — if it were viable to produce it
O interest in Californio-252 lies in its unique properties as a neutron emitter. A single microgram releases hundreds of millions of neutrons per minute, making it a kind of pocket nuclear power plantimpossible to replace with other conventional materials.
Thanks to this property, it is used as neutron source to initiate controlled fission reactions, in oncological treatments through brachytherapy, in geological prospecting and in NASA projects.
However, its handling requires security protocols extremely strict due to the risk posed by any accidental exposure.
