[gippgig]

A recent article (Physical Review C 84 044617) concludes that it should be possible to make significant amounts of neutron-rich superheavy isotopes by multiple thermonuclear explosions, that advanced pulsed nuclear reactors might work, & that the r process might produce superheavies naturally.
Has anyone considered "customized" fusion reactions for making transuranium elements? A T-T fusion device (T + T = ⁴He + 2n) should have a much higher neutron flux than a standard H-bomb. Another interesting possibility would be T + ¹¹B = 3 ⁴He + 2n which I believe is only exothermic by about .2 MeV so a very large device with a low explosive yield could be made. (Many of these reactions are likely to have been studied back in the days of the neutron bomb but are probably largely buried in secrecy.)

[ik3]

I think a thermonuclear explosion is not suitable for the identification of short-lived nuclei such as neutron very-excess nuclei of Z=92-99 (short-lived beta-decay nuclei) and neutron excess nuclei of Z>=100 (short-lived SF nuclei).　Long-lived nuclei such as 250Cm, 254Cf and 257Fm are only observed by the thermonuclear explosion, and no nuclei of A=256 are observed due to the short half-life of the SF-isotope 256Cf (t=12min).
To synthesize and identify undiscovered heavy neutron-rich nuclei, deep-inelastic nucleon transfer reactions such as 248Cm+238U and 250Cf+232Th are plausible. Neutron rich Z=100-106 isotopes around N=162 subshell are expected to be observed by these reactions. 261No, 263No (expected to be the longest-lived Nobelium nuclei) and 264Lr, 266Lr (expected to be the longest-lived Lawrencium nuclei) would be obtained in near future.