Results of fission products β decay properties measurement performed with a total absorption spectrometer

Abstract

β-decay properties of fission products are very important for applied reactor physics, for instance to estimate the decay heat released immediately after the reactor shutdown and to estimate the ν¯$\bar \nu $ flux emitted. An accurate estimation of the decay heat and the ν¯$\bar \nu $ emitted flux from reactors, are necessary for purposes such as reactors operation safety and non-proliferation. In order to improve the precision in the prediction for these quantities, the bias due to the Pandemonium effect affecting some important fission product data has to be corrected. New measurements of fission products β-decay, not sensitive to this effect, have been performed with a Total Absorption Spectrometer (TAS) at the JYFL facility of Jyväskylä. An overview of the TAS technique and first results from the 2009 campaign will be presented.