The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna outside Moscow first synthesized the 117th element in 2010.

However, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry requires the experiment to be reproduced before registering a new element.

The research team has already filed an application to register the element they have discovered, Andrei Popeko, a senior official at the Dubna institute, said on Monday.

But it could take up to a year before the new element is formally added to the periodic table, obtaining a proper name, Popeko said.

Elements beyond uranium, number 92 in the periodic table, are not to be found in nature and have to be artificially created in reactors or laboratories.

The Dubna institute has reported successfully synthesizing elements 113, 115, 117 and 118, while the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany is currently working to synthesize elements 119 and 120.