Tony Hill

Fast Neutron–Induced Fission Cross Sections of 233, 234, 236, 238U up to 200 MeV

Abstract The 233, 234, 236, 238U fission cross sections have been measured relative to 235U(n, f) for incident neutron energies from 200 KeV to 200 MeV using neutron time-of-flight at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The results are generally consistent with the current ENDF/B-VII evaluation, but some discrepancies with previous measurements above 20 to 30 MeV are observed. These measurements are part of a campaign to measure fission cross sections with high precision in support of fast reactor technology.

The NIFFTE project

The Neutron Induced Fission Fragment Tracking Experiment (NIFFTE) is a double-sided Time Projection Chamber (TPC) with micromegas readout designed to measure the energy-dependent neutron-induced fission cross sections of the major and minor actinides with unprecedented accuracy. The NIFFTE project addresses the challenge of minimizing major sources of systematic uncertainties from previous fission chamber measurements such as: target and beam non-uniformities, misidentification of alpha and light charged particles as fission fragments, and uncertainties inherent to the reference standards used. In-beam tests of the NIFFTE TPC at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) started in 2010 and have continued in 2011, 2012 and 2013. An overview of the NIFFTE TPC status and performance at LANSCE will be presented.

Actinide neutron-induced fission cross section measurements at LANSCE

Fission cross sections of a range of actinides have been measured at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) in support of nuclear energy applications in a wide energy range from sub thermal energies up to 200 MeV. Parallel‐plate ionization chambers are used to measure fission cross sections ratios relative to the 235U standard while incident neutron energies are determined using the time‐of‐flight method. Recent measurements include the 233,238U, 239–242Pu and 243Am neutron‐induced fission cross sections. Obtained data are presented in comparison with existing evaluations and previous data.

Advanced Elastic/Inelastic Nuclear Data Development Project

The optical model is used to analyze the elastic and inelastic scattering of nucleons, deuterons, hellions, tritons, and alpha particles by the nuclei. Since this paper covers primarily neutron-nucleus scattering, the focus will be limited to only that interaction. For the sake of this model, the nucleus is described as a blob of nuclear matter with properties based upon its number of nucleons. This infers that a single potential can describe the interaction of particles with different energies with different nuclei.