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Title: Energy dependence of fission product yields from 235U, 238U and 239Pu for incident neutron energies between 0.5 and 14.8 MeV

Abstract

Fission Product Yields (FPY) have historically been one of the most observable features of the fission process. They are known to have strong variations that are dependent on the fissioning species, the excitation energy, and the angular momentum of the compound system. However, consistent and systematic studies of the variation of these FPY with energy have proved challenging. This is caused primarily by the nature of the experiments that have traditionally relied on radiochemical procedures to isolate specific fission products. Although radiochemical procedures exist that can isolate all products, each element presents specific challenges and introduces varying degrees of systematic errors that can make inter-comparison of FPY uncertain. Although of high importance in fields such as nuclear forensics and Stockpile Stewardship, accurate information about the energy dependence of neutron induced FPY are sparse, due primarily to the lack of suitable monoenergetic neutron sources. There is a clear need for improved data, and to address this issue, a collaboration was formed between Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) to measure the energy dependence of FPY for 235U, 238U and 239Pu. The measurements have been performed at TUNL, using a 10more » MV Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator to produce monoenergetic neutrons at energies between 0.6 MeV to 14.8 MeV through a variety of reactions. The measurements have utilized a dual-fission chamber, with thin (10-100 μg/cm2) reference foils of similar material to a thick (100-400 mg) activation target held in the center between the chambers. This method allows for the accurate determination of the number of fissions that occurred in the thick target without requiring knowledge of the fission cross section or neutron fluence on target. Following activation, the thick target was removed from the dual-fission chamber and gamma-ray counted using shielded HPGe detectors for a period of 1-2 months to determine the yield of various fission products. To the extent possible all irradiation and counting procedures were kept the same to minimize sources of systematic errors. FPY have been determined at incident neutron energies of 0.6, 1.4, 2.4, 3.5, 4.6, 5.5, 8.9 and 14.8 MeV.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [4];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [4];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [1] more »;  [1] « less
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. McMaster Univ., Ontario (Canada)
  4. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States); Triangle Univ. Nuclear Lab., Durham, NC (United States)
  5. Triangle Univ. Nuclear Lab., Durham, NC (United States); North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Security
OSTI Identifier:
1236771
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1339640; OSTI ID: 1378545
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-26521; LLNL-JRNL-696175
Journal ID: ISSN 0090-3752; PII: S009037521500071X
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396; NA0001839; AC52-07NA27344
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Data Sheets
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 131; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0090-3752
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY

Citation Formats

Gooden, M. E., Arnold, C. W., Becker, J. A., Bhatia, C., Bhike, M., Bond, E. M., Bredeweg, T. A., Fallin, B., Fowler, M. M., Howell, C. R., Kelley, J. H., Krishichayan, ., Macri, R., Rusev, G., Ryan, C., Sheets, S. A., Stoyer, M. A., Tonchev, A. P., Tornow, W., Vieira, D. J., and Wilhelmy, J. B. Energy dependence of fission product yields from 235U, 238U and 239Pu for incident neutron energies between 0.5 and 14.8 MeV. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.nds.2015.12.006.
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Gooden, M. E., Arnold, C. W., Becker, J. A., Bhatia, C., Bhike, M., Bond, E. M., Bredeweg, T. A., Fallin, B., Fowler, M. M., Howell, C. R., Kelley, J. H., Krishichayan, ., Macri, R., Rusev, G., Ryan, C., Sheets, S. A., Stoyer, M. A., Tonchev, A. P., Tornow, W., Vieira, D. J., & Wilhelmy, J. B. Energy dependence of fission product yields from 235U, 238U and 239Pu for incident neutron energies between 0.5 and 14.8 MeV. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2015.12.006
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Gooden, M. E., Arnold, C. W., Becker, J. A., Bhatia, C., Bhike, M., Bond, E. M., Bredeweg, T. A., Fallin, B., Fowler, M. M., Howell, C. R., Kelley, J. H., Krishichayan, ., Macri, R., Rusev, G., Ryan, C., Sheets, S. A., Stoyer, M. A., Tonchev, A. P., Tornow, W., Vieira, D. J., and Wilhelmy, J. B. 2016. "Energy dependence of fission product yields from 235U, 238U and 239Pu for incident neutron energies between 0.5 and 14.8 MeV". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2015.12.006. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1236771.
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@article{osti_1236771,
title = {Energy dependence of fission product yields from 235U, 238U and 239Pu for incident neutron energies between 0.5 and 14.8 MeV},
author = {Gooden, M. E. and Arnold, C. W. and Becker, J. A. and Bhatia, C. and Bhike, M. and Bond, E. M. and Bredeweg, T. A. and Fallin, B. and Fowler, M. M. and Howell, C. R. and Kelley, J. H. and Krishichayan, . and Macri, R. and Rusev, G. and Ryan, C. and Sheets, S. A. and Stoyer, M. A. and Tonchev, A. P. and Tornow, W. and Vieira, D. J. and Wilhelmy, J. B.},
abstractNote = {Fission Product Yields (FPY) have historically been one of the most observable features of the fission process. They are known to have strong variations that are dependent on the fissioning species, the excitation energy, and the angular momentum of the compound system. However, consistent and systematic studies of the variation of these FPY with energy have proved challenging. This is caused primarily by the nature of the experiments that have traditionally relied on radiochemical procedures to isolate specific fission products. Although radiochemical procedures exist that can isolate all products, each element presents specific challenges and introduces varying degrees of systematic errors that can make inter-comparison of FPY uncertain. Although of high importance in fields such as nuclear forensics and Stockpile Stewardship, accurate information about the energy dependence of neutron induced FPY are sparse, due primarily to the lack of suitable monoenergetic neutron sources. There is a clear need for improved data, and to address this issue, a collaboration was formed between Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) to measure the energy dependence of FPY for 235U, 238U and 239Pu. The measurements have been performed at TUNL, using a 10 MV Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator to produce monoenergetic neutrons at energies between 0.6 MeV to 14.8 MeV through a variety of reactions. The measurements have utilized a dual-fission chamber, with thin (10-100 μg/cm2) reference foils of similar material to a thick (100-400 mg) activation target held in the center between the chambers. This method allows for the accurate determination of the number of fissions that occurred in the thick target without requiring knowledge of the fission cross section or neutron fluence on target. Following activation, the thick target was removed from the dual-fission chamber and gamma-ray counted using shielded HPGe detectors for a period of 1-2 months to determine the yield of various fission products. To the extent possible all irradiation and counting procedures were kept the same to minimize sources of systematic errors. FPY have been determined at incident neutron energies of 0.6, 1.4, 2.4, 3.5, 4.6, 5.5, 8.9 and 14.8 MeV.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nds.2015.12.006},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1236771}, journal = {Nuclear Data Sheets},
issn = {0090-3752},
number = C,
volume = 131,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Wed Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2015.12.006
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Works referenced in this record:

Fission Product Yields from Fission Spectrum n+239Pu for ENDF/B-VII.1
journal, December 2010

Fission Product Yields for 14 MeV Neutrons on 235U, 238U and 239Pu
journal, December 2011

Fission Product Data Measured at Los Alamos for Fission Spectrum and Thermal Neutrons on 239Pu, 235U, 238U
journal, December 2010

Evaluations of Fission Chain Yields for 239 Pu from Fission-Spectrum Neutrons
journal, June 2012

Dual-fission chamber and neutron beam characterization for fission product yield measurements using monoenergetic neutrons
journal, September 2014

  • Bhatia, C.; Fallin, B.; Gooden, M. E.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 757
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Differential Elastic and Inelastic Scattering of 9- to 15-MeV Neutrons from Carbon
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Measurement of Absolute Fission Rates
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SRIM – The stopping and range of ions in matter (2010)
journal, June 2010

  • Ziegler, James F.; Ziegler, M. D.; Biersack, J. P.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 268, Issue 11-12
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2010.02.091

ENDF/B-VII.1 Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Cross Sections, Covariances, Fission Product Yields and Decay Data
journal, December 2011

Nuclear Data Sheets for A = 234
journal, March 2007

Mass distributions in monoenergetic-neutron-induced fission of Pu 239
journal, May 1983

Mass distributions for monoenergetic-neutron-induced fission of U 235
journal, December 1981

Mass distributions in monoenergetic-neutron-induced fission of U 238
journal, January 1978

Fission product yeilds from 6-9 MeV neutron-induced fission of U 235 and U 238
journal, March 1978

JENDL-4.0: A New Library for Nuclear Science and Engineering
journal, January 2011

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Using excitation-energy dependent fission yields to identify key fissioning nuclei in r -process nucleosynthesis
    journal, April 2019

    Review on the progress in nuclear fission—experimental methods and theoretical descriptions
    journal, September 2018

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