Speeding-up Thorium decay

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that cavitation significantly accelerates thorium-228 decay, supporting the hypothesis of pressure-induced nuclear reactions called piezonuclear reactions.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence that cavitation can speed up thorium decay by a factor of 10,000, suggesting a new mechanism for nuclear transformation under pressure.

Findings

Cavitation accelerates thorium-228 decay by 10,000 times.

Results align with previous findings on thorium-234 equilibrium alteration.

Supports the concept of pressure-induced nuclear reactions (piezonuclear reactions).

Abstract

We show that cavitation of a solution of thorium-228 in water induces its transformation at a rate 10000 times faster than the natural radioactive decay would do. This result agrees with the alteration of the secular equilibrium of thorium-234 obtained by a Russian team via explosion of titanium foils in water and solutions. These evidences further support some preliminary clues for the possibility of piezonuclear reactions (namely nuclear reactions induced by pressure waves) obtained in the last ten years.