Speaker
Description
Over the past decade a series of measurements have been performed to determine fission product yields from a series of actinides. The National Criticality Experiments Research Center operates several critical assemblies one of which is Godiva. Godiva was operated in burst mode to produce a prompt fission neutron spectrum to fission actinide materials so that their relative yields could be measured. To date, U235, U238, Pu239 and Np237 have been irradiated using a prompt burst of fission spectrum neutrons from Godiva. Approximately one-hour after the irradiation the actinide target material was moved to a dedicated BeGe detector system and gamma-ray spectroscopic data was measured. The gamma-ray spectra were recorded in time stamped list mode for up to one week following the irradiation. The spectra were binned into various time bins for analysis and the subsequent gamma-ray photopeaks were used to identify their respective isotopes. The decay curves were fit to confirm their half-life and then the fission product yields were determined. We will report on current status of the data analysis and results for the above actinides.
This work was funded by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development within the U.S. DOE - NNSA. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.