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The VElocity foR Direct particle Identification spectrometer (VERDI) is a 2E-2v fission spectrometer that allows the measurement of the total mass distribution of secondary fission fragments with a resolving power of 1-2 u. It consists of two time-of-flight (ToF) arms, with one Micro Channel Plate (MCP) detector and up to 32 Silicon PIPS (Passive Implanted Planar Silicon) detectors per arm. The MCPs provide the start timing signals and the PIPS detectors provide both the energy and the stopping ToF signals. In real conditions, the PIPS signals are affected by the formation of plasma from the interaction between the heavy ions and the detector material. The plasma contributes to a reduction in signal amplitude, resulting in a Pulse Height Defect (PHD), and introduces a signal delay, known as Plasma Delay Time (PDT). An experiment to characterize the PDT and PHD was performed at the LOHENGRIN recoil separator of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL). Characteristic fission fragments from the 239Pu(n,f) reaction were separated based on their A/Q and E/Q ratios, allowing the measurement of a wide range of energies from 21 to 110 MeV and masses between 80 and 149 u. Six PIPS detectors were characterized to study their individual responses to the PDT and PHD effects. The signals were recorded in a digital acquisition system to completely exploit the offline analysis capabilities. Achieved combined timing and energy resolutions for fission fragments varied between 72(2) ps and 100(4) ps and 1.4% - 2% (FWHM), respectively. Preliminary PHD and PDT data are presented from the masses A=85, 95, 130 and 143. The PHD trends are strongly correlated with both the ion energy and mass. The PDT, on the other hand, shows a strong variation as a function of the ion kinetic energy but a smaller dependence on the ion mass.

The FIFRELIN Monte Carlo code has been upgraded recently by adding new capabilities, additional models and updated databases. Several examples are presented in this work as well as three different applications related to the prompt component in fission, gamma cascades from thermal neutron capture and the delayed component in fission associated to the time evolution of decay heat.

At present, a unique high-intensity, monochromatic photon source is built at ELI-NP in Romania, with photo-fission being one of the designated research areas. Simultaneously with the finalization of the corresponding instrumentation, the future scientific program is being prepared, partly based on on-going fission activities. In this presentation we intend to give an overview of the current status of the ELI-NP facility with focus put on future photo-fission experiments, of which the study of fission fragment deexcitation might be one of the fields of research. In a not too simplified picture, this deexcitation process takes place in the early stages, i.e. within a few nanoseconds after scission, through the successive emission of prompt neutrons and gamma rays. Concerning the latter, we have contributed in the past years with a number of precise measurements of prompt gamma-ray spectra from various fissioning systems. From those we determined average characteristics like multiplicity, mean energy per photon and total gamma-ray energy released in fission. The obtained results were investigated for their dependences of mass and atomic numbers of the fissioning system as well as the dissipated excitation energy. The purpose of this endeavor was to find a description that allows predicting prompt gamma-ray spectra characteristics for cases that cannot be studied experimentally. We will present results from the latest measurements of prompt fission gamma-ray spectra and give an outlook on our future activities in this field., Invited speaker.

Recent experimental investigations on major and minor actinides at the JRC-IRMM are presented. Fission-fragment distributions of isotopes with vibrational resonances in the sub-threshold fission cross section, i. e. U-234,U-238, have been measured. For U-234, the impact of an increased neutron multiplicity for the heavy fragments with higher incident neutron energies has been studied as observed in experiment and also recently theoretically predicted. The impact is found to be noticeable on post-neutron mass yields, which are the relevant quantities for a-priori waste assessments. The fission cross sections for Pu-240,Pu-242 at threshold and in the plateau region are being investigated within the ANDES project. The results show some discrepancies to the ENDF/B-VII. 1 evaluation mainly for Pu-242 around 1 MeV, where the evaluation exhibits a resonance-like structure not observed so clearly in the present work. The requested target accuracy in design studies of innovative reactor concepts like Gen-IV is in the range of a few percent. In order to be able to respond to requests for measurements of prompt neutron and gamma-ray emission in fission JRC-IRMM has also invested in setting up a neutron and gamma-ray detector array. The neutron array is called SCINTIA and has so far been tested with Cf-252(SF). For gamma-ray multiplicity and spectrum measurements of Cf-252(SF) and U-235(n(th), f) lanthanum- and cerium-halide detectors were successfully used.

In this paper we report about new prompt fission gamma-ray measurements, which we have performed with highly efficient gamma-ray detectors based on lanthanide-halide crystals, aiming at very fast timing in conjunction with a good energy resolution. About four decades after the experiments were performed, whose results are still used for current evaluations, we present new spectral prompt fission gamma-ray data from the reactions Cf-252(SF) and U-235(n(th),f). Based on our new findings we recommend to replace the current ENDF/B-VII. 1 evaluation for Cf-252(SF) and U-235(n(th),f) as well as to perform new measurements for U-238(n,f) and Pu-241(n,f)., Funding Agencies:European Commission in the framework of the EFNUDAT 31027European Commission in the framework of the ERINDA programme 269499

The Neutrons For Science (NFS) facility is a component of SPIRAL-2 laboratory under construction at Caen (France). SPIRAL-2 is dedicated to the production of high intensity Radioactive Ions Beams (RIB). It is based on a high-power linear accelerator (LINAG) to accelerate deuterons beams in order to produce neutrons by breakup reactions on a C converter. These neutrons will induce fission in U-238 for production of radioactive isotopes. Additionally to the RIB production, the proton and deuteron beams delivered by the accelerator will be used in the NFS facility. NFS is composed of a pulsed neutron beam and irradiation stations for cross-section measurements and material studies. The beams delivered by the LINAG will allow producing intense neutron beams in the 100 keV - 40 MeV energy range with either a continuous or quasi-mono-energetic spectrum. At NFS available average fluxes will be up to 2 orders of magnitude higher than those of other existing time-of-flight facilities in the 1 MeV - 40 MeV range. NFS will be a very powerful tool for fundamental physics and application related research in support of the transmutation of nuclear waste, design of future fission and fusion reactors, nuclear medicine or test and development of new detectors. The facility and its characteristics are described, and several examples of the first potential experiments are presented.

In this paper we report on new spectral prompt gamma-ray measurements from the spontaneous fission of Cf-252 and thermal neutron-induced fission of U-236*. In both experiments, fission of U-236*. In both experiments, gamma-ray multiplicities, average and total gamma-energies were extracted. gamma-ray multiplicities, average and total.-energies were extracted. Apart from one recent measurement on Cf-252, about four decades have passed since the last dedicated experiments were reported in literature. Hence, there was a need for a revision, not only with respect to high priority nuclear data requests by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). In the first mentioned experiment we have measured prompt fission gamma-rays with both cerium-doped LaBr3 and CeBr3 scintillation detectors, which both exhibit excellent timing and good energy resolution. The results from both detectors are in excellent agreement with each other and confirm the historical data. In the experiment on U-235(n(th), f) we employed cerium-doped LaCl3 detectors, together with the lanthanum bromide detectors mentioned above. Even here the first results indicate a good agreement with data from the early 1970' s. They are also in accordance with data in evaluated libraries like ENDF/B-VII.0, while this is not the case for Cf-252(SF). Hence, here an update is strongly recommended.

In the framework of the construction of the double time-of-flight spectrometer VERDI, where we aim at measuring pre- and post-neutron masses directly and simultaneously, ultra-fast time pick-up detectors based on artificial diamond material were investigated for the first time with fission fragments from Cf-252 (0.5 MeV/u < E/A < 2 MeV/u). Signal stability under a high radiation fluence was determined up to at least 10(9) fission-fragments/cm(2) together with more than 3.5 x 10(9) neutrons/cm(2) and 3 x 10(10) alpha-particles/cm(2). This fluence is characteristic for fission experiments. The pre-requisite for the observed signal stability is the application of priming of the diamond material with a strong beta-source for about 48 h. The intrinsic timing resolution of a 100 mu m thick polycrystalline CVD diamond detector with a size of 1 x 1 cm(2) was determined to sigma(int) = (283 +/- 41) ps by comparison with Monte-Carlo simulations. Using broadband pre-amplifiers, 4-fold segmented detectors of same total size and with a thickness of 180 mu m show an intrinsic timing resolution of sigma(int) = (106 +/- 21) ps. This is highly competitive with the best micro-channel plate detectors. Due to the limited and batch-dependent charge collection efficiency of poly-crystalline diamond material, the detection efficiency for fission fragments may be smaller than 100%.

In this paper we present results from measurements of prompt gamma rays from the thermal neutron induced fission of U-235. Photons were measured in coincidence with fission fragments with cerium-doped LaCl3 and LaBr3 as well as CeBr3 scintillation detectors, which offer an intriguing combination of excellent timing resolution and good resolving power. The spectra measured with all employed detectors are in excellent agreement with respect to their shapes. Characteristic parameters were extracted for a gamma-energy range from 0.1 to 6.0 MeV and the results obtained with several detectors were averaged. From that, the average emission yield of prompt-fission gamma rays was determined to be (nu) over bar (gamma) = (8.19 +/- 0.11) per fission, the average energy per photon to be epsilon(gamma) = (0.85 +/- 0.02) MeV, and the total energy to be E-gamma,E-tot = (6.92 +/- 0.09) MeV. The uncertainties are much lower than the 7.5% requested for the modeling of advanced nuclear reactor cores. Estimating the influence of gamma rays with energies between 6 and 10 MeV on the values determined in this work revealed a negligible deviation of the order of the found uncertainties.

In this paper we report on the measurement of gamma-rays using a 2 in. x 2 in. LaBr3:Ce scintillation detector. The gamma-rays were emitted in the spontaneous fission of Cf-252 and detected in coincidence with fission fragments. After presenting some of the properties of the detector, we show how well gamma-rays produced in different reactions may easily be distinguished by their characteristic time-of-flight. Then we focus on the analysis of gamma-rays from inelastically scattered neutrons in the scintillation crystal and demonstrate how this information may be used for neutron spectroscopy. We determine the neutron detection efficiency and compare it to the result of calculations based on existing reaction cross-sections. Finally, we discuss the detection performance in relation to other detector systems commonly used for neutron monitoring.

First results on the neutron-induced fission cross-section of Pa-231 for incident neutron energies E-n > 17 MeV are presented. The experiments were carried out with quasi mono-energetic neutrons produced in the reaction T(d, n)He-4. Corrections for low-energy neutron background produced in this reaction at incident deuteron energies E-d > 2 MeV are taken into account and based on experimental data obtained by two different techniques. Despite the relatively large error bars at the higher neutron energies, the new cross-section values meet the accuracy requirements set by the IAEA and will allow to remove the hitherto existing large spread between different previously published data. Recent cross-section calculations describe well the new experimental results, which are in consistency with cross-section values obtained in a particle-transfer reaction at excitation energies corresponding to neutron energies E-n < 10 MeV.

In this paper we demonstrate the employment of LaCl3 : Ce scintillation detectors for the identification of prompt fission gamma-rays from gamma-radiation in contrast to other reactions. We present the properties of cylindrical 1.5 in. x 1.5 in. detectors in terms of intrinsic activity, energy resolution, intrinsic full peak efficiency and intrinsic timing resolution. In addition, we show results from the measurement of gamma-rays emitted in coincidence with the spontaneous fission of Cf-252, which lead us to the conclusion that the properties of the detectors used in this work, in particular the good timing resolution and a reasonably good energy resolution, are more than just sufficient for the assessment of prompt gamma-heat in future nuclear reactors as requested by the OECD. Hence, in our opinion, LaCl3 : Ce detectors, compared to those made out of LaBr3 : Ce crystals, represent an appropriate and quasi low-cost choice for the above mentioned applications.

The concept of grid inefficiency in Frisch grid ionization chambers and its influence on the anode pulse shape is explained in terms of the Shockley-Ramo theorem for induced charges. The grid inefficiency correction is deduced from numerically calculated weighting potentials. A method to determine the correction factor experimentally is also presented. Experimental and calculated values of the correction factor are shown to be in good agreement.

In view of highly demanded new and accurate data on prompt gamma-ray emission in nuclear fission a major part of investigations is directed towards the selection of suitable detector systems. Here we have studied a new type of crystal scintillation detectors made from cerium bromide (CeBr(3)). For the first time a full characterization of such a detector is presented in terms of energy resolution, pulse-height linearity, intrinsic activity and intrinsic timing resolution. In particular the latter one is very important for prompt fission gamma-ray studies, because the presence of fast neutrons, emitted in fission too, requires the time-of-flight method for their discrimination. The energy resolution has been found to be comparable to that of cerium-doped LaCl(3):Ce detectors at an efficiency comparable to the one of a LaBr(3):Ce detector of the same size. The intrinsic activity of the CeBr(3) crystal was observed to be much lower compared to lanthanum halide crystals. The intrinsic timing resolution of a coaxial 1 in. x 1 in. sized detector was measured relative to that of a previously characterized LaCl(3):Ce detector and found to be (326 +/- 7) Ps at (60)Co energies, which is in between those of a LaBr(3):Ce and a LaCl(3):Ce detector of same size. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The investigation of the fission process is and has been a major undertaking at IRMM. The most recent investigations concerned the reaction (234)U(n,f) and (238)U(n,f) around vibrational resonances at the barrier of the fission cross-section. Furthermore prompt neutron emission of (252)Cf(SF) has been investigated understanding for the first time the prompt neutron multiplicity as a function of total kinetic energy (TKE). Theoretical modelling of reaction cross sections as well as prompt neutron multiplicity and spectra has been performed using the experimental data as input parameters. Also instrument developments for correlation measurements of fission fragment properties has been pursued in recent years with the time-of-flight spectrometer VERDI and detectors for prompt fission gamma-ray.

Fission of (238)U and (234)U induced by bremsstrahlung of 6.5-9.0 MeV endpoint energy has been investigated at the superconducting Darmstadt electron linear accelerator S-DALINAC. Using a twin Frisch grid ionization chamber, fission-fragment energy and mass distributions have been determined by means of the double kinetic-energy technique. Results on the fission-fragment characteristics from (238)U(gamma, f) are in agreement with results from the literature. In addition fission-fragment mass and energy distributions from (234)U(gamma, f) are presented for the first time in this energy region. An analysis of fission modes within the Brosa model has been performed. The relative yield of the S 1 mode was found to be (13 +/- 3)% in (234)U and (35 +/- 2)% in (238)U. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The double kinetic energy measurement of fission fragments with a double-sided Frisch grid ionization chamber allows a careful determination of the emission angle, which is essential in order to apply appropriate energy-loss corrections. We present a drift-time method, which uses the time that free electrons need to drift from the location of their creation, e.g. by a fission fragment in the counting gas, to the grid, before inducing a signal on the anode. Such a measurement leaves energy and angular information fully decoupled. We demonstrate the applicability of the drift-time method for the example of the U-234,U-238 (gamma,f) reactions performed at the superconducting Darmstadt electron linear accelerator. The angular resolutions achieved with this method are comparable to those obtained with other methods. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Experiments on photo-induced fission of 238U and 234U using bremsstrahlung with endpoint energies between 6 MeV and 9 MeV have been carried out at the superconducting Darmstadt electron linear accelerator S-DALINAC. A twin Frisch grid ionization chamber has been used to determine energy and mass distributions via the 2E-technique. The fission fragment emission angle, which is used to correct for energy loss in the target and backing material for a correct determination of fragment energy and mass, is deduced from the time difference between cathode and anode signals. The research program including the foreseen search for parity violation in photo-induced fission and first experimental results will be presented. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

Recent fission cross-section calculations for the reaction 238U(n, f ), based on an extended statistical model, predict a significant change of fission fragment properties, such as the mean mass by A = 1.5 and a notable increase in total kinetic energy in the region of the vibrational resonance at an incident neutron energy En = 0.9 MeV. This model includes individual fission cross-sections by the asymmetric standard 1 (S1) and standard 2 (S2) as well as the symmetric super-long (SL) mode. In order to verify the model predictions, a dedicated experiment on 238U has been carried out to measure fission-fragment mass yield distributions for incident neutron energies from En = 2.0 MeV down to 0.9 MeV, where the fission characteristics at the vibrational resonance at En = 0.9 MeV were investigated for the first time. The previously reported distinct structure in the angular anisotropy around En = 1.2 and 1.6 MeV wasobserved at En = 0.9 MeV as well. The predicted large changes in fission fragment mass yield and total kinetic energy could not be confirmed. In the resonance the mean total kinetic energy is only about 0.5 MeV higher than at En = 1.8 MeV. At the same time, a slight decrease of the mean heavy fragment mass was observed, probably indicating a slightly increased contribution of the S1 fission mode.

The properties of cylindrical 1.5//×1.5//LaCl3:Cescintillation detectors were determined. For the energy resolution values between 3.8 and 4.2% at 662 keV were observed, following the expected E-1/2 behavior. The intrinsic full peak efficiency was determined to be more than 50% higher than for NaI:Tl detectors of same size. The observed intrinsic timing resolution for 60Co was estimated to 441 ps and the intrinsic activity of the lanthanum crystals was assessed. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

A new spectrometer has been built at the EC-JRC IRMM to investigate isomer decay in the millisecond range and activation cross sections of isotopes, where isomeric states exist and are populated. The spectrometer is equipped with high-resolution gamma-ray detectors and an ionisation chamber for the measurement of charged particles, e.g., fission fragments. NEPTUNE provides pulsed quasi mono-energetic neutrons at pulse repetition frequencies up to 5 kHz and tuneable neutron pulse widths ranging from 10 µs into the ms-region. For this purpose a beam chopper based on a parallel-plate capacitor has been integrated into the accelerator beam line in order to deflect the charged-particle beam onto a tantalum beam dump. First research has been performed with the NEPTUNE spectrometer dedicated to the shape isomer search in the odd-A uranium isotopes 235U, 237U and 239U. In further experiments the population of long-lived spin isomers was investigated.

Although the recoil mass-separator LOHENGRIN at Institute Laue-Langevin was originally designed for the spectrometry of binary fission fragments, it was also used in the past for measuring light-charged particles from ternary fission. However, due to limited electric field settings the energy distribution of the lightest particles was not completely accessible. In this contribution we report on an energy degrader technique that allows the measurement of the entire energy spectra of ternary particles with LOHENGRIN. We demonstrate how the measured particle spectra are distorted by the energy degrader and present results from a Monte Carlo simulation that shows how the original energy distributions are reconstructed. Finally, we apply this procedure to experimental data of ternary particles from the reaction 235U(nth, f).