The use of large arrays of HPGe detectors and the study of fission

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:20005763

Cole, J D; Drigert, M W; Aryaeinejad, R ^[1]

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1. and others

The use of large arrays of detectors has gained importance in nuclear structure studies in the past decade. These arrays have added new information for the cases of high multiplicity of radiation emitted for nuclear reaction work. They have applied the criteria to experimental measurement of radiation from the fission of actinide nuclei. The current series of experiments is designed to collect information on the prompt fission fragments arising from thermal-neutron-induced fission. The experiment uses an array of Compton-suppressed high-purity germanium detectors and fast liquid scintillation detectors to observe the radiation emitted from the induced fission of {sup 235}U and {sup 239}Pu with a beam of thermal neutrons. The experiment was performed at the Argonne National Laboratory Intense Pulsed Neutron Source. A target of {approximately}2 g of uranium was used for the uranium measurement and {approximately}5 g of plutonium for the current experiment. Future experiments are planned using targets of {sup 233}U and {sup 237}Np, and the targets have been obtained. In the fission process several hundred different fragment nuclei are produced, many of which have never been studied. Because of the tight time windows enforced by the experiment's coincidence circuitry, only events involving the prompt fission fragments are collected. By building a coincidence spectrum gated on a transition in one of the prompt fragments, the authors obtain all of the coincident lines in that fragment as well as a number of transitions arising from the partner fission fragment. A coincidence matrix that is based on the time-correlated fission events of {sup 235}U has been built. One important aspect of these experiments is that several data sets of experimental data will be obtained for different fissile isotopes, but the data sets will be consistent for all isotopes studied. Within each data set for a particular fissile isotope, the data are self-consistent for all fission fragments produced. By examining the coincidence data and looking for pairs of isotopes produced in fission, precise corrections for beta decay can be made.

• Research Organization: INEEL/LMIT, Idaho Falls, ID (US)
• OSTI ID: 20005763
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 81; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

44 INSTRUMENTATION
66 PHYSICS
COINCIDENCE SPECTROMETRY
FISSION
FISSION FRAGMENT DETECTION
HIGH-PURITY GE DETECTORS
LIQUID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
NEUTRON REACTIONS
PLUTONIUM 239 TARGET
URANIUM 235 TARGET