New approach to precisely measure γ-ray intensities for long-lived fission products, with results for the decay of 95Zr

Kolos, K.; Hennessy, A. M.; Scielzo, N. D.; Iacob, V. E.; Hardy, J. C.; Stoyer, M. A.; Tonchev, A. P.; Ong, W. -J.; Burkey, M. T.; Champine, B.; Clark, J. A.; Copp, P.; Gallant, A.; Norman, E. B.; Orford, R.; Park, H. I.; Rohrer, J.; Santiago-Gonzalez, D.; Savard, G.; Shaka, A. J.; Wang, B. S.; Zhu, S.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2021.165240

New approach to precisely measure γ-ray intensities for long-lived fission products, with results for the decay of ⁹⁵Zr

Journal Article · Thu Mar 18 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2021.165240· OSTI ID:1778018

^[1]; Hennessy, A. M. ^[2]; Scielzo, N. D. ^[3]; ^[4]; Hardy, J. C. ^[4]; ^[3]; Tonchev, A. P. ^[5]; Ong, W. -J. ^[3]; Burkey, M. T. ^[6]; Champine, B. ^[7]; Clark, J. A. ^[8]; Copp, P. ^[9]; Gallant, A. ^[3]; ^[10]; Orford, R. ^[11]; Park, H. I. ^[4]; Rohrer, J. ^[8]; ^[8]; Savard, G. ^[12]; ^[13] more »

Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, TX (United States)
Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

For many fission products, the rays emitted following decay provide an easily-detectable signature that can be used to identify their quantities and distributions in a sample. As a result, γ-ray spectroscopy is often exploited to study fission-product yields, provided sufficiently accurate information on the γ-ray intensity is available. However, in many cases, the uncertainties in the existing nuclear data are large enough that they compromise the precision achievable for modern experiments and applications. To address this need, we have developed a new experimental method that is well suited to precisely measure absolute γ-ray intensities in the β decay of long-lived fission products. The approach involves the production of a radiopure sample by implantation of a mass-separated ion beam from the CAlifornium Rare Isotope Breeder Upgrade (CARIBU) facility on a thin carbon foil. The emitted β-decay radiation is detected with a 4π gas proportional counter and a meticulously efficiency-calibrated high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. As a first measurement to demonstrate the approach, we studied the absolute γ-ray intensities of the strongest transitions following the β decay of ⁹⁵Zr and its decay-daughter ⁹⁵Nb, and determined them to fractional precisions of better than 1–2%. In addition, with a larger sample of activity produced through neutron irradiation of an isotopically-enriched Zr foil, we performed a high-precision measurement of the relative γ-ray intensities following the decay of ⁹⁵Zr with just the HPGe detector. Here, the sample-production method at CARIBU and the coincidence detection approach demonstrated here can be applied to study fission products with half-lives longer than a day, which includes isotopes important not only for nuclear-energy and national-security applications, but also for medical-isotope research and environmental monitoring.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; AC52-07NA27344; FG02-93ER40773; NA0000979

OSTI ID:: 1778018

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1828116
OSTI ID: 1828474
OSTI ID: 1841697

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--765373

Journal Information:: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Vol. 1000; ISSN 0168-9002

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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New approach to precisely measure γ-ray intensities for long-lived fission products, with results for the decay of 95Zr

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