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Cologne Researchers Confirm Rare Technetium-98 Decay Pathway

11/2/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Researchers from the University of Cologne confirmed a rare electron capture decay pathway for technetium-98 (Tc-98) in Physical Review.
Over 17 days, they recorded about 40,000 decay events.
The decay pathway had been theorized since the 1990s and lacked empirical evidence.
The findings deepen understanding of nuclear stability and aid refining the nuclear periodic table.
Future work will study similar rare decay processes in neighboring isotopes.

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Story summary

Researchers from the University of Cologne confirmed a rare electron capture decay pathway for technetium-98 (Tc-98) in Physical Review.
Over 17 days, they recorded about 40,000 decay events.
The decay pathway had been theorized since the 1990s and lacked empirical evidence.
The findings deepen understanding of nuclear stability and aid refining the nuclear periodic table.
Future work will study similar rare decay processes in neighboring isotopes.