# Californium-252.  How expensive is it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californium-252-how-expensive-is-it/228854>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [February 12, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californium-252-how-expensive-is-it/228854 "2004-02-12T15:42:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![louper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4af34b/32.png) [@louper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/louper)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californium-252-how-expensive-is-it/228854/1 "2004-02-12T15:42:09Z")

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This is a pretty straightforward question:

How does $1,000 per microgram equate to $350 billion per pound, as stated in this column about [the most expensive thing in the world](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_329a.html)? Since 1 kilogram equals approximately 2.2 pounds and the rest of the conversions are within the metric system, I fail to see how the 35 enters the picture.

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**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californium-252-how-expensive-is-it/228854/2 "2004-02-12T16:17:33Z")

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[1 pound = 453 592 370 micrograms](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=micrograms+per+pound)

$43000000000 per pound, actually.

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**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californium-252-how-expensive-is-it/228854/3 "2004-02-12T16:46:51Z")

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Maybe Cecil was using a troy pound, which is (approximately) 373,241,722 micrograms.

If you really want to know how much californium-252 costs, you can [order some](http://www.ornl.gov/sci/isotopes/r_cf252.html). “Quanity discounts may be available.” 😃

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**Author:** ![brantgoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@brantgoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brantgoose)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californium-252-how-expensive-is-it/228854/4 "2004-02-12T18:14:29Z")

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Since the sale of Californium-252 in question was quite a long time ago, I thought I should check the Internet for better prices. As I suspected, you can buy Californium cheaper than $1,000 per microgram, if anybody has any to sell.

On a site where most of the posts are in Russian I found a reference to a 1998 sale of Californium-252 for $56.00 per microgram.

Here is the paragraph:

The isotope Cf-249 results from the beta decay of Bk-249 while the heavier isotopes are produced by intense neutron irradiation of this product. Logically one would expect that Cf-252 would be more expensive then than Cf-249. However, in Sept. 1998 the ORNL Isotopes Division charged $180.25 per microgram of californium-249, and $56.00 per microgram of californium-252, indicating that factors other than ease of prodcution were setting the price. If Cf-251 could be manufactured in quantity for the 1998 sale price of Cf-252, then a critical mass would cost $11 billion.

Google Cache: [http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:ugENMHHnJQAJ:airbase.ru/forums/index.php%3Fshowtopic%3D8375%26st%3D15+Californium-252++price+microgram&hl=en&ie=UTF-8](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:ugENMHHnJQAJ:airbase.ru/forums/index.php%3Fshowtopic%3D8375%26st%3D15+Californium-252++price+microgram&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)

As you may guess from this excerpt, most of this thread seems to be about building light atomic bombs using Californium-252. I won’t bore you with the details. It does not seem to be worth while building an $11 billion Californium-252 bomb when plutonium is so cheap and readily available. Relatively speaking. 😉

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**Author:** ![brantgoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@brantgoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brantgoose)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/californium-252-how-expensive-is-it/228854/5 "2004-02-12T18:17:54Z")

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As an afterthought, I checked eBay for Californium-252. No hits.

I mean, really. I AM disappointed. Maybe if I tried one of the foreign eBays, I’d have better luck.