On 26 – 27 October 2018, the meeting of the RAS Council on Heavy Ion Physics was held in Dubna in the JINR International Conference Hall. This meeting of the Council was aimed at discussion of the programme of research on superheavy elements in Dubna until 2030. About 60 scientists from Russian scientific centres, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research as well as invited guests from France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Switzerland and the USA participated in the event.

The meeting was opened by RAS Council Chairman Academician Yu.Ts. Oganessian who noted that before discussing and planning the future, it is worth considering the past. Yuri Tsolakovich told the audience how research on superheavy elements in Dubna started – the uranium target, creation and development of research facilities, launch of the U-400. Big changes started at the turn of the century when scientists began to use Ca-48 and actinide targets, up to californium. Nowadays, development of the Factory of superheavy elements is being concluded. Moreover, Yuri Tsolakovich reminded that a set of discussions dedicated to superheavy elements was held last year, all of which were held at the leading international scientific forums.

“The theme of our laboratory’s research covers two large fields,” FLNR Scientific Secretary Alexander Karpov said. “One of them is synthesis of superheavy elements. The second one deals with study of light exotic nuclei, production of radioactive beams, and etc. Last year, at the meeting of the RAS Council on Heavy Ion Physics we discussed light radioactive nuclei. This year, we discuss the prospects for research in the fields of superheavy elements. It is connected with the upcoming launch of the Factory of superheavy elements at which this programme will be implemented.”

In total, 18 reports will be delivered at the meeting. The largest number of them will be dedicated to the JINR flagship programme – launch of the DC-280 cyclotron (G. Gulbekian), ion sources (S. Bogomolov), separators (A. Popeko), experiments (Yu. Oganessian), neutron-rich heavy nuclei (A. Karpov), and other issues of research at the Factory of superheavy elements. An excursion to the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions was organized for participants of the meeting.

Galina Myalkovskaya, JINR Weekly Newspaper
Photos by Elena Puzynina, JINR Scientific Information Department