According to a statement from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, element 117 is one step closer to being named.

Scientists at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research have confirmed the existence of element 117 and its decay chain to elements 115 and 113.

Next, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) will review the new findings and determine whether additional experiments are required before recognizing the element’s discovery. Following recognition, IUPAC would decide which organization may suggest names.

According to NBCNews.com, element 117 is temporarily named ununseptium.

Scientists at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research bombarded a berkelium target with calcium ions until they collided and formed element 117, which then decayed into elements 115 and 113.

Lawrence Livermore scientists and colleagues from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia worked with researchers from the Research Institute for Advanced Reactors, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to discover element 117 in 2010.

Elements beyond atomic number 104 are known as superheavy elements. The most long-lived ones are thought to be situated on a so-called “island of stability,” where nuclei with very long half-lives should be located.

Although superheavy elements have not been discovered in nature, they can be generated by accelerating beams of nuclei and shooting them at the heaviest possible target nuclei.

The findings will be described in greater detail in the journal Physical Review Letters.