LIVERMORE — A superheavy element discovered with help from Lawrence Livermore lab scientists is a step closer to being officially named, lab officials said Friday.

Element 117, discovered in 2010 by researchers from Livermore along with an international team, has been confirmed by a second group of scientists at an accelerator lab in Darmstadt, Germany. To create the element, the scientists bombarded a berkelium target with calcium ions.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) will review the findings and decide whether or not to acknowledge the element’s discovery. If accepted, IUPAC would then determine which institution can propose names for the element.

The research by the team at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.

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