A methodology for the intercomparison of nuclear fission codes using TALYS

Abstract

Codes for the calculation of fission observables are frequently used to describe experimentally observed phenomena as well as provide predictions in cases where measurements are missing. Assumptions in the models, and tuning of parameters within the codes, often result in a good reproduction of experimental data. In this work we propose a methodology, coded in the newly developed program DELFIN (De-Excitation of FIssion fragmeNts), that can be used to compare some of the assumptions of the various models. Our code makes use of the fission fragments information after scission and processes them in an independent and consistent fashion to obtain measurable fission observables (such as ν(A) distributions and Isomeric Fission Yield ratios). All the available information from the models, such as fragments' excitation energies, spin distributions and yields are provided as input to DELFIN that uses the nuclear reaction code TALYS to handle the de-excitation of the fission fragments. In this way we decouple the fragments relaxation from the actual fission models. We report here the first results of a comparison carried out on the GEF, Point-by-Point and FREYA models for thermal fission of 235U and 239Pu and spontaneous fission of 252Cf.