Investigation of the Pu-240(n, f) reaction at the n_TOF/EAR2 facility in the 9 meV-6 MeV range

Stamatopoulos, A. and Tsinganis, A. and Colonna, N. and Kokkoris, M. and Vlastou, R. and Diakaki, M. and Zugec, P. and Schillebeeckx, P. and Gunsing, F. and Sabate-Gilarte, M. and Barbagallo, M. and Aberle, O. and Andrzejewski, J. and Audouin, L. and Becares, V. and Bacak, M. and Balibrea, J. and Barros, S. and Becvar, F. and Beinrucker, C. and Belloni, F. and Berthoumieux, E. and Billowes, J. and Bosnar, D. and Brugger, M. and Caamano, M. and Lo Meo, S. and Calvino, F. and Calviani, M. and Cano-Ott, D. and Cerutti, F. and Chiaveri, E. and Cortes, G. and Cortes-Giraldo, M. A. and Cosentino, L. and Damone, L. A. and Deo, K. and Domingo-Pardo, C. and Dressler, R. and Dupont, E. and Duran, I. and Fernandez-Dominguez, B. and Ferrari, A. and Ferreira, P. and Finocchiaro, P. and Frost, R. J. W. and Furman, V. and Goebel, K. and Garcia, A. R. and Gheorghe, I. and Glodariu, T. and Goncalves, I. F. and Gonzalez-Romero, E. and Goverdovski, A. and Griesmayer, E. and Guerrero, C. and Harada, H. and Heftrich, T. and Heinitz, S. and Hernandez-Prieto, A. and Heyse, J. and Jenkins, D. G. and Jericha, E. and Kaeppeler, F. and Kadi, Y. and Katabuchi, T. and Kavrigin, P. and Ketlerov, V. and Khryachkov, V. and Kimura, A. and Kivel, N. and Knapova, I. and Krticka, M. and Leal-Cidoncha, E. and Lederer, C. and Leeb, H. and Lerendegui-Marco, J. and Licata, M. and Losito, R. and Macina, D. and Marganiec, J. and Martinez, T. and Massimi, C. and Mastinu, P. and Mastromarco, M. and Matteucci, F. and Mendoza, E. and Mengoni, A. and Milazzo, P. M. and Mingrone, F. and Mirea, M. and Montesano, S. and Musumarra, A. and Nolte, R. and Palomo-Pinto, F. R. and Paradela, C. and Patronis, N. and Pavlik, A. and Perkowski, J. and Plompen, A. and Porras, J. and Praena, J. and Quesada, J. M. and Rauscher, T. and Reifarth, R. and Riego-Perez, A. and Robles, M. and Rubbia, C. and Ryan, J. A. and Saxena, A. and Schmidt, S. and Schumann, D. and Sedyshev, P. and Smith, A. G. and Suryanarayana, S. and Tagliente, G. and Tain, J. L. and Tarifeno-Saldivia, A. and Tassan-Got, L. and Valenta, S. and Vannini, G. and Variale, V. and Vaz, P. and Ventura, A. and Vlachoudis, V. and Wallner, A. and Warren, S. and Weigand, M. and Weiss, C. and Wright, T.. (2020) Investigation of the Pu-240(n, f) reaction at the n_TOF/EAR2 facility in the 9 meV-6 MeV range. Physical Review C - Nuclear Physics , 102 (1). 014616-014616.

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Abstract

Background: Nuclear waste management is considered amongst the major challenges in the field of nuclear energy. A possible means of addressing this issue is waste transmutation in advanced nuclear systems, whose operation requires a fast neutron spectrum. In this regard, the accurate knowledge of neutron-induced reaction cross sections of several (minor) actinide isotopes is essential for design optimization and improvement of safety margins of such systems. One such case is Pu-240, due to its accumulation in spent nuclear fuel of thermal reactors and its usage in fast reactor fuel. The measurement of the Pu-240(n, f) cross section was previously attempted at the CERN n_TOF facility EAR1 measuring station using the time-of-flight technique. Due to the low amount of available material and the given flux at EAR1, the measurement had to last several months to achieve a sufficient statistical accuracy. This long duration led to detector deterioration due to the prolonged exposure to the high alpha activity of the fission foils, therefore the measurement could not be successfully completed.Purpose: It is aimed to determine whether it is feasible to study neutron-induced fission at n_TOF/EAR2 and provide data on the Pu-240(n, f) reaction in energy regions requested for applications.Methods: The study of the Pu-240(n, f) reaction was made at a new experimental area (EAR2) with a shorter flight path which delivered on average 30 times higher flux at fast neutron energies. This enabled the measurement to be performed much faster, thus limiting the exposure of the detectors to the intrinsic activity of the fission foils. The experimental setup was based on microbulk Micromegas detectors and the time-of-flight data were analyzed with an optimized pulse-shape analysis algorithm. Special attention was dedicated to the estimation of the non-negligible counting loss corrections with the development of a new methodology, and other corrections were estimated via Monte Carlo simulations of the experimental setup.Results: This new measurement of the Pu-240(n, f) cross section yielded data from 9 meV up to 6 MeV incident neutron energy and fission resonance kernels were extracted up to 10 keV.Conclusions: Neutron-induced fission of high activity samples can be successfully studied at the n_TOF/EAR2 facility at CERN covering a wide range of neutron energies, from thermal to a few MeV.

Faculties and Departments:	05 Faculty of Science > Departement Physik > Former Organization Units Physics > Theoretische Physik Astrophysik (Thielemann)
UniBasel Contributors:	Rauscher, Thomas
Item Type:	Article, refereed
Article Subtype:	Research Article
Publisher:	American Physical Society
ISSN:	0556-2813
e-ISSN:	1089-490X
Note:	Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Language:	English
Identification Number:	doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.102.014616 isi: 000551057500002
edoc DOI:	10.5451/unibas-ep78610
Last Modified:	23 Sep 2020 15:02
Deposited On:	23 Sep 2020 15:02

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