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Measurement of the prompt neutron spectrum from thermal-neutron-induced fission in U-235 using the recoil proton method

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Abstract

A measurement of the 235U prompt fission neutron spectrum (PFNS) by the recoil proton method was performed at the Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China. Details of the method, which include the calculation and validation of the response matrix, are presented. The PFNS for 235U in the energy range 1–12 MeV, induced by thermal neutrons, was obtained. The measured spectrum in the low-energy region was in good agreement with previous work and the ENDF/B-VII library, except for minor differences. In the high-energy region, however, the relative height of the measured spectrum was greater, and an analysis of the experiment indicated uncertainties of 13% at 10 MeV and 24% at 12 MeV. Experimental results showed that the recoil proton method could be used to measure prompt fission neutron spectra. Some directions for future work are included.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Zhu An from Sichuan University for helpful discussion and Jianming Song and Wei Luo from INPC for providing a high-performance thermal neutron source. We wish to thank Benchao Lou and Yan Li from INPC for providing the D-T neutron source.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Tie He

  2. Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China

    Tie He, Pu Zheng & Jun Xiao

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  1. Tie He
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  2. Pu Zheng
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  3. Jun Xiao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tie He.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11775196) and the Chinese Special Project for ITER (No. 2015GB108006).

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He, T., Zheng, P. & Xiao, J. Measurement of the prompt neutron spectrum from thermal-neutron-induced fission in U-235 using the recoil proton method. NUCL SCI TECH 30, 112 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-019-0633-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-019-0633-z

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