Abstract
This work expands the availability of energy-resolved short-lived cumulative fission product yields for 235,238,233U, 239Pu, and 237Np subjected to a 2$ pulse in the Washington State University TRIGA reactor. A boron carbide capsule tailored the neutron spectrum, creating a spectrum with an average energy of 700 keV, similar to fast reactor spectra and approaching that of 235U fission. Unique gamma spectra were collected from 4 min to 1 week after fission using high purity germanium detectors. Measured cumulative fission product yields generally agree well with published fast pooled fission product yield values from ENDF/B-VII, though a bias was noted for 239Pu.
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Acknowledgments
The work was funded by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development within the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory which is operated by Battelle Memorial Institute for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-76RLO1830. The team at PNNL gratefully acknowledges Jessica Drader and the staff at the Washington State University Dodgen Research Facility and research reactor for their assistance in the irradiations of these samples: CC Hines, MD King, and D Wall. This document is PNNL-SA-105467.
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Finn, E.C., Metz, L., Greenwood, L. et al. Cumulative fission yields of short-lived isotopes under natural-abundance-boron-carbide-moderated neutron spectrum. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 306, 79–91 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4085-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4085-6