The 41Ca(n,α)38Ar cross section up to 100 keV neutron energy

The 41Ca(n,alpha)38Ar reaction cross section has been studied with resonance neutrons at the GELINA neutron facility of the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements in Geel (Belgium) from a few eV up to 100 keV. A Frisch-gridded ionization chamber with methane as detector gas was installed at a 30 meter long flight path. About 20 resonances have been identified. From the cross section data obtained, the Maxwellian averaged cross section (MACS) as a function of stellar temperature has been calculated by numerical integration

245Cm fission cross section measurement in the thermal energy region

A new cross section measurement for the ^245Cm(n,f) reaction in the thermal energy region has been performed at the GELINA neutron facility of the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) in Geel, Belgium. The energy of the neutrons is determined applying the time of flight method using a flight path length of about 9 m. In the present work, the incident neutron energy covers 10 meV up to a few eV. A 98.48% enriched ^245Cm sample was mounted back-to-back with a ^10B sample in the centre of a vacuum chamber together with two surface barrier detectors positioned outside the neutron beam. One detector measured the ^10B(n,a)^7Li reaction products for the neutron flux determination, while the second one registered the ^245Cm(n,f) fragments. In this way, the neutron flux can be determined simultaneously with the fission fragments. A control measurement has been performed replacing the ^245Cm sample with a ^235U sample in order to check that the well-known ^235U(n,f) cross section can be reproduced. Our measurement yielded a ^245Cm(nth,f) cross section of 2131±43±173 b and a Westcott factor gf=0.939±0.019

Thermal fission cross section measurements of 243Cm and 245Cm

A new measurement program was set up at SCK-CEN to determine the thermal neutroninduced fission cross section of a number of Cm isotopes. The experiments are performed at a thermal neutron beam from the graphite moderated reactor BR1 at SCK-CEN. This paper presents preliminary results of our ^243Cm(n,f) and ^245Cm(n,f) cross-section measurements

Measurement of the U-236(n, f) cross section in the neutron energy range from 0.5 eV up to 25 keV

The U-236(n,f) cross section has been measured in the energy range from 0.5 eV to 25 keV at the Geel Electron Linear Accelerator neutron time-of-flight facility of the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements in Geel, Belgium. A highly enriched U-236 sample was mounted back-to-back with a B-10 sample in the center of a Frisch-gridded ionization chamber, hence realizing a 2 pi detection geometry. A U-235(n,f) cross-section control measurement was performed in the same experimental conditions. Special attention has been given to the fission resonance integral I-f and to the strongest resonance at 5.45 eV, for which a resonance analysis has been performed yielding Gamma(f) = 1.7 mu eV Both values are highly overestimated in the literature

Characteristics of light charged particle emission in the ternary fission of 250Cf and 252Cf at different excitation energies

The emission probabilities and the energy distributions of tritons, α and ^6He particles emitted in the spontaneous ternary fission (zero excitation energy) of ^250Cf and ^252Cf and in the cold neutron induced fission (excitation energy ≈ 6.5 MeV) of ^249Cf and 251Cf are determined. The particle identification was done with suited ΔE-E telescope detectors, at the IRMM (Geel, Belgium) for the spontaneous fission and at the ILL (Grenoble, France) for the neutron induced fission measurements. Hence particle emission characteristics of the fissioning systems ^250Cf and ^252Cf are obtained at zero and at about 6.5 MeV excitation energies. While the triton emission probability is hardly influenced by the excitation energy, the ^4He and ^6He emission probability in spontaneous fission is higher than for neutron induced fission. This can be explained by the strong influence of the cluster preformation probability on the ternary particle emission probability

Experimental determination of the U-234(n(th),f) cross section.

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