By introducing in the hydrodynamic model, i.e. in the hydrodynamic equations and the corresponding boundary conditions, the higher-order terms in the deviation of the shape, we obtain to second order the Korteweg de Vries equation (KdV). The same equation is obtained by introducing in the liquid drop model (LDM), i.e. in the kinetic, surface and Coulomb terms, the higher terms to second order. The KdV equation has cnoidal waves as steady-state solutions. These waves could describe the small anharmonic vibrations of spherical nuclei up to the solitary waves. The solitons could describe the preformation of clusters on the nuclear surface. We apply this nonlinear LDM to the alpha formation in heavy nuclei. We find an additional minimum in the total energy of such systems, corresponding to the solitons as clusters on the nuclear surface. By introducing the shell effects we choose this minimum to be degenerated with the ground state. The spectroscopic factor is given by the ratio of the square amplitudes in the two minima.