Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

uu.sePublications from Uppsala University
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Impact of prompt-neutron corrections on final fission-fragment distributions
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Applied Nuclear Physics.
IRMM - JRC - EC.
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Applied Nuclear Physics.
IRMM - JRC - EC.
2012 (English)In: Physical Review C. Nuclear Physics, ISSN 0556-2813, E-ISSN 1089-490X, Vol. 86, no 5, p. 054601-Article in journal, Editorial material (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: One important quantity in nuclear fission is the average number of prompt neutrons emitted from the fission fragments, the prompt neutron multiplicity, ν . The total number of prompt fission neutrons, νtot, increases with increasing incident neutron energy. The prompt-neutron multiplicity is also a function of the fragment mass and the total kinetic energy of the fragmentation. Those data are only known in sufficient detail for a few thermal-neutron-induced fission reactions on, for example, 233,235U and 239Pu. The enthralling question has always been asked how the additional excitation energy is shared between the fission fragments. The answer to this question is important in the analysis of fission-fragment data taken with the double-energy technique. Although in the traditional approach the excess neutrons are distributed equally across the mass distribution, a few experiments showed that those neutrons are predominantly emitted by the heavy fragments.

Purpose: We investigated the consequences of the ν(A,TKE,En) distribution on the fission fragment observables.

Methods: Experimental data obtained for the 234U(n, f) reaction with a Twin Frisch Grid Ionization Chamber, were analyzed assuming two different methods for the neutron evaporation correction. The effect of the two different methods on the resulting fragment mass and energy distributions is studied.

Results: We found that the preneutron mass distributions obtained via the double-energy technique become slightly more symmetric, and that the impact is larger for postneutron fission-fragment distributions. In the most severe cases, a relative yield change up to 20–30% was observed.

Conclusions: We conclude that the choice of the prompt-neutron correction method has strong implications on the understanding and modeling of the fission process and encourages new experiments to measure fission fragments in coincidence with prompt fission neutrons. Even more, the correct determination of postneutron fragment yields has an impact on the reliable assessment of the nuclear waste inventory, as well as on the correct prediction of delayed neutron precursor yields.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2012. Vol. 86, no 5, p. 054601-
Keywords [en]
Fission, Neutron
National Category
Subatomic Physics
Research subject
Physics with specialization in Applied Nuclear Physics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-185076DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.86.054601ISI: 000310685400003OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-185076DiVA, id: diva2:571215
Available from: 2012-11-21 Created: 2012-11-19 Last updated: 2017-12-07Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Measurements of the 234U(n,f) Reaction with a Frisch-Grid Ionization Chamber up to En=5 MeV
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Measurements of the 234U(n,f) Reaction with a Frisch-Grid Ionization Chamber up to En=5 MeV
2013 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This study on the neutron-induced fission of 234U was carried out at the 7 MV Van de Graaff accelerator of IRMM in Belgium. A Twin Frisch-Grid Ionization Chamber (TFGIC) was used to study 234U(n,f) between En = 0.2 and 5.0 MeV. The reaction is important for fission modelling of the second-chance fission in 235U(n,f). The fission fragment (FF) angular-, energy and mass distributions were determined using the 2E-method highlighting especially the region of the vibrational resonance at En = 0.77 MeV.

The experiment used both conventional analogue and modern digital acquisition systems in parallel. Several advantages were found in the digital case, especially a successful pile-up correction. The shielding limitations of the Frisch-grid, called "grid-inefficiency", result in an angular-dependent energy signal. The correction of this effect has been a long-standing debate and a solution was recently proposed using the Ramo-Shockley theorem. Theoretical predictions from the latter were tested and verified in this work using two different grids. Also the neutron-emission corrections as a function of excitation energy were investigated. Neutron corrections are crucial for the determination of FF masses. Recent theoretical considerations attribute the enhancement of neutron emission to the heavier fragments exclusively, contrary to the average increase assumed earlier. Both methods were compared and the impact of the neutron multiplicities was assessed. The effects found are significant and highlight the importance of further experimental and theoretical investigation.

In this work, the strong angular anisotropy of 234U(n,f ) was confirmed. In addition, and quite surprisingly, the mass distribution was found to be angular-dependent and correlated to the vibrational resonances. The anisotropy found in the mass distribution was consistent with an anisotropy in the total kinetic energy (TKE), also correlated to the resonances. The experimental data were parametrized assuming fission modes based on the Multi-Modal Random Neck-Rupture model. The resonance showed an increased yield from the Standard-1 fission mode and a consistent increased TKE. The discovered correlation between the vibrational resonances and the angular-dependent mass distributions for the asymmetric fission modes may imply different outer fission-barrier heights for the two standard modes.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2013. p. 109
Series
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology, ISSN 1651-6214 ; 1002
Keywords
Fission, U-234, Neutron, Uranium, Resonance, Ionization Chamber, Frisch-grid
National Category
Subatomic Physics
Research subject
Physics with specialization in Applied Nuclear Physics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-185306 (URN)978-91-554-8554-2 (ISBN)
Public defence
2013-01-18, Häggsalen, Ångströmlaboratoriet, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, Uppsala, 10:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2012-12-27 Created: 2012-11-21 Last updated: 2013-04-02Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full texthttp://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevC.86.054601

Authority records

Al-Adili, AliStephan, Pomp

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Al-Adili, AliStephan, Pomp
By organisation
Applied Nuclear Physics
In the same journal
Physical Review C. Nuclear Physics
Subatomic Physics

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 1186 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf