Tritium Production from Ternary Fission

The tritium gas emission in the thermal neutron induced ternary fission of 249Cf has been determined for the first time in a measurement at the intense neutron beam PF1B of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble (France). A 249Cf sample was mounted in the centre of a vacuum chamber, at a short distance of a dE-E telescope which permitted the identification of the ternary particles. The binary fission fragments were detected in a separate run, using only the E detector. From these measurements, the energy distributions and the emission probabilities of the ternary 3H particles emitted in the thermal neutron induced ternary fission of 249Cf could be determined. Based on this result and on measurements published by us recently, we could enlarge the database related to 3H emission probabilities (denoted t/B) and their energy distributions in particular for the Cm and Cf isotopes. The impact of the excitation energy of the fissioning nucleus on the ternary particle emission probability is discussed, comparing for a given compound nucleus, the t/B data obtained from thermal neutron induced fission (excitation energy of the fissioning nucleus = the neutron binding energy) and from spontaneous fission (excitation energy = zero). In addition, semi-empirical relations between t/B data and characteristics of the binary fission process are proposed.

SEROT O.;  WAGEMANS Cyriel;  VERMOTE S.;  HEYSE Jan;  SOLDNER T.;  GELTENBORT P.;  ALMAHAMID I.;  FLOYD J.;  LUKENS W. W.; 

2008-09-30

EDP Sciences

JRC47090

http://nd2007.edpsciences.org/,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC47090,   

10.1051/ndata:07748,