https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201714604030
Measurement of the 240Pu(n,f) cross-section at the CERN n_TOF facility: First results from experimental area II (EAR-2)
1 National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece
2 European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
3 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Italy
4 European Commission JRC, Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, Retieseweg 111, 2440 Geel, Belgium
5 Commissariaté l'énergie Atomique (CEA) Saclay – Irfu, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
6 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia
7 University of Lodz, Poland
8 Institut de Physique Nucléaire, CNRS-IN2P3, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91406 Orsay Cedex, France
9 Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Spain
10 Technische Universität Wien, Austria
11 Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
12 Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
13 Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
14 University of Manchester, UK
15 University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
16 Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, Spain
17 Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
18 INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy
19 Dipartimento di Fisica, Université degli Studi di Bari, Italy
20 Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India
21 Instituto de Física Corpuscular, Universidad de Valencia, Spain
22 Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villingen, Switzerland
23 Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, Russia
24 Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Romania
25 Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE), Obninsk, Russia
26 Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-mura, Japan
27 University of York, UK
28 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus North, IKP, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
29 Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
30 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, UK
31 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, Italy
32 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Université di Bologna, Italy
33 Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie (ENEA), Bologna, Italy
34 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Legnaro, Italy
35 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Italy
36 Dipartimento di Astronomia, Université di Trieste, Italy
37 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Université di Catania, Italy
38 Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
39 University of Ioannina, Greece
40 University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Vienna, Austria
41 University of Granada, Spain
42 Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, UK
43 Department of Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland
44 Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
a e-mail: athanasios.stamatopoulos@cern.ch
Published online: 13 September 2017
The accurate knowledge of the neutron-induced fission cross-sections of actinides and other isotopes involved in the nuclear fuel cycle is essential for the design of advanced nuclear systems, such as Generation-IV nuclear reactors. Such experimental data can also provide the necessary feedback for the adjustment of nuclear model parameters used in the evaluation process, resulting in the further development of nuclear fission models. In the present work, the 240Pu(n,f) cross-section was measured at CERN's n_TOF facility relative to the well-known 235U(n,f) cross section, over a wide range of neutron energies, from meV to almost MeV, using the time-of-flight technique and a set-up based on Micromegas detectors. This measurement was the first experiment to be performed at n_TOF's new experimental area (EAR-2), which offers a significantly higher neutron flux compared to the already existing experimental area (EAR-1). Preliminary results as well as the experimental procedure, including a description of the facility and the data handling and analysis, are presented.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
