What equipment is used to do transmutation and how do they use it?

[Karimspencer]

Is it expensive?

 

[daveb]

Do you mean transmutation of one element into another? Typically this uses a target material which is inserted into a tube that moves the target into the middle of a reactor so it can be neutron activated.

 

[Karimspencer]

Yes exactly. Does this process change the number of protons in the atom for it's known that the atomic number characterizes the element.

 

[mfb]

Yes, if you add one or more neutrons to a nucleus it might undergo beta decay and become a different element.
It is not expensive to generate "some" new nuclei, but it is expensive to produce macroscopic amounts. In addition, you usually get a composition of some stable and some radioactive isotopes. For a practical application, you might have to separate them, which is expensive, too.

 

[DaveC426913]

It is not expensive to generate "some" new nuclei,

To put "not expensive" in perspective here, you still need the reactor or particle accelerator. This is not a workroom table experiment.