Measurements of the effective cumulative fission yields of 143Nd, 145Nd, 146Nd, 148Nd and 150Nd for 235U in the PHENIX fast reactor

Abstract

The effective Neodymium cumulative fission yields for 235U have been measured in the fast reactor PHENIX relatively to the 235U fission cross-section. The data were derived from isotope-ratio measurements obtained in the frame of the PROFIL-1, PROFIL-2A and PROFIL-2B programs. The interpretations of the experimental programs were performed with the ERANOS code in association with the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion library JEFF-3.1.1. Final results for 143Nd, 145Nd, 146Nd, 148Nd and 150Nd were 5.61%, 3.70%, 2.83%, 1.64% and 0.66%, respectively. The relative uncertainties attached to each of the cumulative fission yields lie between 2.1% and 2.4%. The main source of uncertainty is due to the fluence scaling procedure (<2%). The uncertainties on the Neodymium capture cross-sections provide a contribution lower than 1%. The energy dependence of the fission yields was studied with the GEF code from the thermal energy to 20 MeV. Neutron spectrum average corrections, deduced from GEF calculations, were applied to our effective fission yields with the aim of estimating fission yields at 400 keV and 500 keV, as given in the International Evaluated Nuclear Data Files (JEFF, ENDF/B and JENDL). The neutron spectrum average correction calculated for the PROFIL results remains lower than 1.5%.