6533b86efe1ef96bd12cb5b1
RESEARCH PRODUCT
New measurement of the 242Pu(n,γ) cross section at n_TOF
E. MendozaArnd R. JunghansJ. M. QuesadaM. A. Cortés-giraldoD. Cano-ottJ. Lerendegui-marcoCarlos GuerreroKlaus Eberhardtsubject
EngineeringIsotopes of uranium010308 nuclear & particles physicsbusiness.industryNuclear engineeringPhysicsQC1-9997. Clean energy01 natural sciencesEngineering physicsSpent nuclear fuelNeutron temperatureNeutron capture0103 physical sciencesPlutonium-242Neutron cross sectionUranium-235010306 general physicsbusinessMOX fueldescription
The use of MOX fuel (mixed-oxide fuel made of UO2 and PuO2 ) in nuclear reactors allows substituting a large fraction of the enriched Uranium by Plutonium reprocessed from spent fuel. With the use of such new fuel composition rich in Pu, a better knowledge of the capture and fission cross sections of the Pu isotopes becomes very important. In particular, a new series of cross section evaluations have been recently carried out jointly by the European (JEFF) and United States (ENDF) nuclear data agencies. For the case of 242 Pu, the two only neutron capture time-of-flight measurements available, from 1973 and 1976, are not consistent with each other, which calls for a new time-of flight capture cross section measurement. In order to contribute to a new evaluation, we have perfomed a neutron capture cross section measurement at the n_TOF-EAR1 facility at CERN using four C6 D6 detectors, using a high purity target of 95 mg. The preliminary results assessing the quality and limitations (background, statistics and γ -flash effects) of this new experimental data are presented and discussed, taking into account that the aimed accuracy of the measurement ranges between 7% and 12% depending on the neutron energy region.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-01-01 | EPJ Web of Conferences |