The region of the periodic chart which has shown the best evidence for octupole instability in the nuclear ground state is around Z = 88-90 and N around 134. These nuclei have low-lying negative parity states and relatively strong B(E1) values for the transitions between the bands of opposite parity; in the case of ²²⁶Ra large B(E3) values have been measured consistent with its interpretation as a rotating pear shape. The very inaccessibility of these far-from-stability nuclei has, however, meant that there are large gaps in our knowledge of octupole effects in heavy nuclei. Complete measurements of the high-spin behaviour of the yrast octupole band only exist for the isotopes of Th. For the Ra isotopes such measurements are available for the weakly quadrupole coupled ^218,220Ra and the strongly coupled ²²⁶Ra. There is only a limited amount of data on ²²⁴Ra and virtually no information exists for ²²²Ra. The U isotopes with N around 132 are predicted to have the largest octupole correlations, but there is no information about the low lying structure of these nuclei.

Highlights of Recent Results

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	First Identification of Gamma Decay fron U-226
	Research carried out at Jurosphere
	Studies of Octupole Nuclei
	Search for Hyperdeformation in Uranium Isotopes