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A new measurement program was set up at SCK·CEN to determine the thermal neutron-induced fission cross section of a number of Cm isotopes. These transuranium isotopes are produced in nuclear reactors and are candidates for transmutation. This paper presents preliminary results of our 245Cm(n,f) cross-section measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary fission is an important source of He and tritium gas in nuclear reactors and used fuel elements. Therefore a systematic study of the ternary fission yields for 4He and tritons (t) is being performed. In recent years the influence of the excitation energy of the fissioning nucleus on the triton emission probability (t/B) has been investigated for different Cm and Cf isotopes. In this paper we report on new results on the neutron induced fission of 243Cm. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The minor actinide waste produced in nuclear power plants contains various Cm-isotopes, and transmutation scenarios require improved fission cross section data. The available thermal neutron induced fission cross section data for 243Cm, 246Cm and 248Cm are not very accurate, so new cross section measurements have been performed at the high flux reactor of the ILL in Grenoble (France) under better experimental conditions (highly enriched samples, very intense and clean neutron beam). The measurements were performed at a neutron energy of 5.38 meV, yielding fission cross section values of (1240±28)b for 243Cm, (25±47)mb for 246Cm and (685±84)mb for 248Cm. From these results, thermal fission cross section values of (572±14)b; (12±25)mb and (316±43)mb have been deduced for 243Cm, 246Cm and 248Cm, respectively. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary fission constitutes an important source of helium and tritium gas production in nuclear reactors and in used fuel elements. Data related to this production are therefore requested by nuclear industry. In the present paper, we report results from measurements of the 4He and 3H emission probabilities (denoted LRA/B and t/B, respectively). These measurements concern both thermal neutron-induced fission reactions as well as spontaneous fission decays. For spontaneous fission, data are reported for nuclides ranging from 238Pu up to 252Cf. For thermal neutron-induced fission, results cover target nuclei between 229Th and 251Cf. Based on these and other results, semi-empirical relations are proposed. These correlations are only valid if spontaneous fission data and neutron-induced fission data are considered separately, which shows the impact of the fissioning nucleus-excitation energy on the ternary particle-emission process. In this way, t/B and LRA/B values could be evaluated for fissioning systems not investigated so far. These results could be used for the ternary fission-yield evaluation of the JEFF3.1 library. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]