Measurement of the 244^{244}Cm, 246^{246}Cm and 248^{248}Cm neutron-induced capture cross sections at the CERN n_TOF facility

Accurate neutron capture cross section data for minor actinides (MAs) are required to estimate the production and transmutation rates of MAs in light water reactors, critical fast reactors like Gen-IV systems, and other innovative reactor systems such as accelerator driven systems (ADS). In particular, $^{244}$Cm, $^{246}$Cm and $^{248}$Cm ($^{244,246,248}$Cm) play an important role in the transport, storage and transmutation of the nuclear waste of the actual nuclear reactors, due to the contribution of these isotopes to the radiotoxicity, neutron emission, and decay heat in the spent nuclear fuel. Also, capture reactions in these Cm isotopes open the path for the formation of heavier elements such as Bk and Cf. Recent sensitivity studies have shown that the uncertainties in the evaluations of $^{244,246,248}$Cm in the resonance region are too big to obtain the desired uncertainties in the characterisation of the spent fuel of conventional nuclear reactors.\\ In order to reduce the uncertainties, new measurements of the $^{244,246,248}$Cm capture cross sections have been performed at n\_TOF. There are only two previous capture measurements of the cross sections of these isotopes. The first measurement was carried out in 1969 by Moore \textit{et al.} using an underground nuclear explosion, and the cross sections were measured between 20 eV and 1 keV. The second measurement was performed in J-PARC by Kimura \textit{et al.} in 2010 with germanium detectors, and the cross sections were measured between 4 and 30 eV.\\ The measurements at the n\_TOF facility have been performed with two different samples, one prepared to measure the cross section of $^{244}$Cm and the other to measure the cross sections of $^{246,248}$Cm. The two samples were the same as the ones used in the previous Cm capture measurement at J-PARC. The cross section of $^{244}$Cm has been measured in the first experimental area of n\_TOF (\gls{EAR1}) located at 185 meters with the Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC) in the energy range between 7 and 100 eV, and in the second experimental area (\gls{EAR2}) located at 19 meters with C$_6$D$_6$ detectors in the energy range between 7 and 300 eV. The results obtained for the two areas are compatible. In \gls{EAR2} the cross sections of $^{246}$Cm and $^{248}$Cm have also been measured, in the energy range between 4 and 400 eV and between 7 and 100 eV, respectively. In addition, the resonances of $^{240}$Pu, present in the samples due to the decay of $^{244}$Cm, have been analysed between 20 and 190 eV. The $^{244,246,248}$Cm and $^{240}$Pu cross sections have been normalised to the first resonance of $^{240}$Pu. \\ In total, 36 resonances of Cm have been fitted, implementing the SAMMY code, and the uncertainties in the resonance parameters are smaller than the uncertainties in the two previous measurements for most of the resonances, improving the status of the nuclear data for these isotopes

The DESPEC setup for GSI and FAIR

The DEcay SPECtroscopy (DESPEC) setup for nuclear structure investigations was developed and commissioned at GSI, Germany in preparation for a full campaign of experiments at the FRS and Super-FRS. In this paper, we report on the first employment of the setup in the hybrid configuration with the AIDA implanter coupled to the FATIMA LaBr3(Ce) fast-timing array, and high-purity germanium detectors. Initial results are shown from the first experiments carried out with the setup. An overview of the setup and function is discussed, including technical advancements along the path.Peer ReviewedArticle signat per 169 autors/es. A.K. Mistry 1,2,∗, H.M. Albers 2, T. Arıcı 3, A. Banerjee 2, G. Benzoni 4, B. Cederwall 5, J. Gerl 2, M. Górska 2, O. Hall 6, N. Hubbard 1,2, I. Kojouharov 2, J. Jolie 7, T. Martinez 8, Zs. Podolyák 9, P.H. Regan 9,10, J.L. Tain 11, A. Tarifeno-Saldivia 12, H. Schaffner 2, V. Werner 1, G. Ağgez 3, J. Agramunt 11, U. Ahmed 1, O. Aktas 5, V. Alcayne 8, A. Algora 11,13, S. Alhomaidhi 1,2, F. Amjad 2, C. Appleton 6, M. Armstrong 7, M. Balogh 14, K. Banerjee 15, P. Bednarczyk 16, J. Benito 17, C. Bhattacharya 15, P. Black 6, A. Blazhev 7, S. Bottoni 4,18, P. Boutachkov 2, A. Bracco 18,4, A.M. Bruce 19, M. Brunet 9, C.G. Bruno 6, I. Burrows 20, F. Calvino 12, R.L. Canavan 9,10, D. Cano-Ott 8, M.M.R. Chishti 9, P. Coleman-Smith 20, M.L. Cortés 1, G. Cortes 12, F. Crespi 18,4, B. Das 5, T. Davinson 6, A. De Blas 12, T. Dickel 2, M. Doncel 21, A. Ertoprak 5,3, A. Esmaylzadeh 7, B. Fornal 16, L.M. Fraile 17, F. Galtarossa 14, A. Gottardo 14, V. Guadilla 11,22, J. Ha 23,24, E. Haettner 2, G. Häfner 25,7, H. Heggen 2, P. Herrmann 1, C. Hornung 2, S. Jazrawi 9,10, P.R. John 1, A. Jokinen 26, C.E. Jones 19, D. Kahl 6,27, V. Karayonchev 7, E. Kazantseva 2, R. Kern 1, L. Knafla 7, R. Knöbel 2, P. Koseoglou 1, G. Kosir 28, D. Kostyleva 2, N. Kurz 2, N. Kuzminchuk 2, M. Labiche 20, J. Lawson 20, I. Lazarus 20, S.M. Lenzi 23, S. Leoni 4,18, M. Llanos-Expósito 17, R. Lozeva 25, A. Maj 16, J.K. Meena 15, E. Mendoza 8, R. Menegazzo 24, D. Mengoni 14, T.J. Mertzimekis 29, M. Mikolajczuk 22,2, B. Million 4, N. Mont-Geli 12, A.I. Morales 11, P. Morral 20, I. Mukha 2, J.R. Murias 17, E. Nacher 11, P. Napiralla 1, D.R. Napoli 14, B.S. Nara-Singh 30, D. O’Donnell 30, S.E.A. Orrigo 11, R.D. Page 31, R. Palit 32, M. Pallas 12, J. Pellumaj 14, S. Pelonis 29, H. Pentilla 26, A. Pérez de Rada 8, R.M. Pérez-Vidal 14, C.M. Petrache 25, N. Pietralla 1, S. Pietri 2, S. Pigliapoco 24, J. Plaza 8, M. Polettini 4,18, C. Porzio 4,18, V.F.E. Pucknell 20, F. Recchia 23, P. Reiter 7, K. Rezynkina 24, S. Rinta-Antila 26, E. Rocco 2, H.A. Rösch 2,1, P. Roy 15,2, B. Rubio 11, M. Rudigier 1, P. Ruotsalainen 26, S. Saha 33, E. Şahin 1,2, Ch. Scheidenberger 2, D.A. Seddon 31, L. Sexton 6, A. Sharma 34, M. Si 25, J. Simpson 20, A. Smith 35, R. Smith 20, P.A. Söderström 27, A. Sood 5, A. Soylu 36, Y.K. Tanaka 37, J.J. Valiente-Dobón 14, P. Vasileiou 29, J. Vasiljevic 5, J. Vesic 28, D. Villamarin 8, H. Weick 2, M. Wiebusch 2, J. Wiederhold 1, O. Wieland 4, H.J. Wollersheim 2, P.J. Woods 6, A. Yaneva 7, I. Zanon 14, G. Zhang 23,24, J. Zhao 2,38, R. Zidarova 1, G. Zimba 26, A. Zyriliou 29Postprint (author's final draft