Development of an experimental set-up for the measurement of neutron-induced fission and capture cross sections of highly radioactive fissile nuclei

Abstract

The measurement of neutron-capture cross sections of many actinides is complicated by the difficulty in separating capture γ-rays from the large fission-fragment prompt γ-ray background. For example, current estimates of the capture cross section of 233U show large discrepancies, with differences of more than 20%. To improve the accuracy of data, a new experimental set-up for the simultaneous measurement of the neutron-induced capture and fission cross sections was designed, assembled and optimized. The measurements will be performed at the GEel LINear Accelerator (GELINA) neutron time-of-flight facility in Belgium, where neutron cross sections can be measured over a wide energy range with high energy resolution. The fission detector consists of a dedicated multi-plate high-efficiency ionization chamber (IC). The γ-rays produced in capture reaction are detected by an array of C6D6 scintillators. Fission γ–rays are distinguished from capture γ–rays by the anticoincidence signals from the IC and the C6D6 detectors. For the undetected fission events a correction has to be applied based on the efficiency of the IC that should be high and known with a high accuracy. The performance of the IC during dedicated test experiments is presented, focusing on the determination of the detection efficiency.