Study of some characteristics of the thermal-neutron-induced sub-barrier fission of 231Pa, 232Th and 237Np

C. Wagemans, M. Asghar, P. D'hondt, A. J. Deruytter, A. Emsallem

    Research outputpeer-review

    Abstract

    Some characteristics of the thermal-neutron-induced fission of 231Pa, 232Th and 237Np were studied using a highly pure thermal-neutron beam of the Grenoble High Flux Reactor. For the thermal-neutron-induced-fission cross section we obtained 20 ± 4 mb for 237Np, 19 ± 4 mb for 231Pa and less than 2.5 μb for 232Th, in agreement with calculations based on a double humped fission barrier. We also determined a mean total fission fragment kinetic energy of 172.8 + 2.5 MeV for 237Np, which fits into the semi-empirical systematic of E ̄K versus Z2/A case1 3. Finally, we determined LRA/B ratios of (1.94±0.17) × 10-3 for 237Np and (1.67±0.11) × 10-3for 231Pa, in disagreement with the theoretical predictions of Feather, but consistent with the semi-empirical systematic of Halpern.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)32-44
    Number of pages13
    JournalNuclear Physics, Section A
    Volume285
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 18 Jul 1977

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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