Systematics of Fission Cross Sections in the MeV Range

Conference · Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 EDT 2009

OSTI ID:1026712

Westfall, Robert Michael ^[1]; Wright, Richard Q. ^[1]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Twenty-nine years ago, J. W. Behrens published a paper on the systematics of fission cross sections (3 5 MeV average). His study included 57 isotopes of elements ranging from radium through einsteinium (Z = 88 to 99). A systematic trend was seen for the element range from protactinium through curium. For a given element, the fission cross section decreased as the A-number increased. Fission cross sections are considerably more accurate now than those available in 1980. The current study represents an update of the Behrens study. Data for 11 elements and 53 nuclides were used. Trends for both the (Z, A) variation and the (2Z N) correlation are demonstrated. The current study clearly shows that the trends are quite well represented by straight lines. The trend for the fission cross sections of a given element to decrease with increasing A-number is observed for values of A < 248. For A > 248 there is a trend for the fission cross section to increase with increasing A-number.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1026712
• Resource Relation: Conference: NCSD 2009-Nuclear Criticality Safety Division Topical Meeting, Richland, WA (United States), 13-17 Sep 2009
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
CRITICALITY
CROSS SECTIONS
CURIUM
EINSTEINIUM
FISSION
ISOTOPES
MEV RANGE
PROTACTINIUM
RADIUM
SAFETY
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Fission
Cross-Sections
J. W. Behrens
Systematics of Fission Cross Sections
Study Update