Radiative capture on 242Pu for MOX fuel reactors

Proposal: Radiative capture on 242Pu for MOX fuel reactorsThe 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. Indeed around 66% of the plutonium from spent fuel is made of 239Pu and 241Pu, which are fissile in thermal reactors. A typical reactor of this type uses a fuel with 7% reprocessed Pu and 93% depleted U, thus profiting from both the spent fuel and the remaining 238U following the 235U enrichment. With the use of such new fuel compositions rich in Pu the better knowledge of the capture and fission cross sections of the Pu isotopes becomes very important. This is clearly stated in the recent OECD NEA’s “High Priority Request List” and in the WPEC-26 “Uncertainty and target accuracy assessment for innovative systems using recent covariance data evaluations” report. 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. As the new evaluations on 240Pu and 241Am have been already completed, 242Pu is the next to be reevaluated, and the scarceness of capture data (only two TOF measurements from 1973 and 1976 are available and disagree with each other) calls for a new time-of flight capture cross section measurement. This will be the first measurement in 40 years and, with the use of more advanced techniques, shall provide a more reliable and accurate result. We propose to measure the capture cross section of 242Pu in the region from thermal up to at least 60 keV, aiming for a high energy limit of 500 keV. The experiment would make use of an array of 4 low neutron sensitivity C6D6 detectors and be carried out at the n_TOF EAR-1 (185 m flight path) measuring station. Compared to the current uncertainty of 35%, this measurement aims at an improved accuracy between 7% and 12% depending on the energy region.Preprin

A Theoretical Framework for Lagrangian Descriptors

This paper provides a theoretical background for Lagrangian Descriptors (LDs). The goal of achieving rigourous proofs that justify the ability of LDs to detect invariant manifolds is simplified by introducing an alternative definition for LDs. The definition is stated for $n$-dimensional systems with general time dependence, however we rigorously prove that this method reveals the stable and unstable manifolds of hyperbolic points in four particular 2D cases: a hyperbolic saddle point for linear autonomous systems, a hyperbolic saddle point for nonlinear autonomous systems, a hyperbolic saddle point for linear nonautonomous systems and a hyperbolic saddle point for nonlinear nonautonomous systems. We also discuss further rigorous results which show the ability of LDs to highlight additional invariants sets, such as $n$-tori. These results are just a simple extension of the ergodic partition theory which we illustrate by applying this methodology to well-known examples, such as the planar field of the harmonic oscillator and the 3D ABC flow. Finally, we provide a thorough discussion on the requirement of the objectivity (frame-invariance) property for tools designed to reveal phase space structures and their implications for Lagrangian descriptors

Distributional chaotic generalized shifts

Suppose $X$ is a finite discrete space with at least two elements, $\Gamma$ is a nonempty countable set, and consider self--map $\varphi:\Gamma\to\Gamma$. We prove that the generalized shift $\sigma_\varphi:X^\Gamma\to X^\Gamma$ with $\sigma_\varphi((x_\alpha)_{\alpha\in\Gamma})=(x_{\varphi(\alpha)})_{\alpha\in\Gamma}$ (for $(x_\alpha)_{\alpha\in\Gamma}\in X^\Gamma$) is: $\bullet$ distributional chaotic (uniform, type 1, type 2) if and only if $\varphi:\Gamma\to\Gamma$ has at least a non-quasi-periodic point, $\bullet$ dense distributional chaotic if and only if $\varphi:\Gamma\to\Gamma$ does not have any periodic point, $\bullet$ transitive distributional chaotic if and only if $\varphi:\Gamma\to\Gamma$ is one--to--one without any periodic point. We complete the text by counterexamples.Comment: 13 page

First Measurement of 72Ge(n,γ) at n_TOF

9th European Summer School on Experimental Nuclear AstrophysicsThe slow neutron capture process (s-process) is responsible for producing about half of the elemental abundances heavier than iron in the universo

First measurement of the 94Nb(n,γ) cross section at the CERN n_TOF facility

One of the crucial ingredients for the improvement of stellar models is the accurate knowledge of neutron capture cross-sections for the different isotopes involved in the s-,r- and i- processes. These measurements can shed light on existing discrepancies between observed and predicted isotopic abundances and help to constrain the physical conditions where these reactions take place along different stages of stellar evolution. In the particular case of the radioactive 94Nb, the 94Nb(n,γ) cross-section could play a role in the determination of the s-process production of 94Mo in AGB stars, which presently cannot be reproduced by state-of-the-art stellar models. There are no previous 94Nb(n,γ) experimental data for the resolved and unresolved resonance regions mainly due to the difficulties in producing highquality samples and also due to limitations in conventional detection systems commonly used in time-of-flight experiments. Motivated by this situation, a first measurement of the 94Nb(n,γ) reaction was carried out at CERN n_TOF, thereby exploiting the high luminosity of the EAR2 area in combination with a new detection system of small-volume C6D6-detectors and a high quality 94Nb-sample. The latter was based on hyper-pure 93Nb material activated at the high-flux reactor of ILL-Grenoble. An innovative ring-configuration detection system in close geometry around the capture sample allowed us to significantly enhance the signal-to-background ratio. This set-up was supplemented with two conventional C6D6-detectors and a highresolution LaCl3(Ce)-detector, which will be employed for addressing reliably systematic effects and uncertainties. At the current status of the data analysis, 18 resonance in 94Nb+n have been observed for the first time in the neutron energy range from thermal up to 10 keV.European Research Council (ERC)European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Consolidator Grant project HYMNS, with grant agreement No. 681740)ICJ220-045122-IMCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTRSpanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under grants PID2019-104714GB-C21, FPA2017-83946-C2-1-P, FIS2015-71688-ERCCSICPIE-201750I2

Recent results in nuclear astrophysics at the n_TOF facility at CERN

The neutron time of flight (n_TOF) facility at CERN is a spallation source characterized by a white neutron spectrum. The innovative features of the facility, in the two experimental areas, (20 m and 185 m), allow for an accurate determination of the neutron cross section for radioactive samples or for isotopes with small neutron capture cross section, of interest for Nuclear Astrophysics. The recent results obtained at n_TOF facility are presented

Measurement of the neutron capture cross section of the fissile isotope 235U with the CERN n_TOF Total Absorption Calorimeter and a fission tagging based on micromegas detectors

Actual and future nuclear technologies require more accurate nuclear data on the (n, gamma) cross sections and -ratios of fissile isotopes. Their measurement presents several difficulties, mainly related to the strong fission gamma-ray background competing with the weaker gamma-ray cascades used as the experimental signature of the (n,gamma) process. A specific setup has been used at the CERN n_TOF facility in 2012 for the measurement of the (n,gamma) cross section and alpha-ratios of fissile isotopes and used for the case of the 235U isotope. The setup consists in a set of micromegas fission detectors surrounding 235U samples and placed inside the segmented BaF2 Total Absorption Calorimeter.Postprint (published version