Determination of relative krypton fission product yields from 14 MeV neutron induced fission of 238U at the National Ignition Facility

E R Edwards; W S Cassata; C A Velsko; C B Yeamans; D A Shaughnessy

doi:10.1063/1.4963155

Determination of relative krypton fission product yields from 14 MeV neutron induced fission of ²³⁸U at the National Ignition Facility

Rev Sci Instrum. 2016 Nov;87(11):11D838. doi: 10.1063/1.4963155.

Authors

E R Edwards¹, W S Cassata², C A Velsko², C B Yeamans², D A Shaughnessy²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
² Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551, USA.

PMID: 27910394
DOI: 10.1063/1.4963155

Abstract

Precisely-known fission yield distributions are needed to determine a fissioning isotope and the incident neutron energy in nuclear security applications. 14 MeV neutrons from DT fusion at the National Ignition Facility induce fission in depleted uranium contained in the target assembly hohlraum. The fission yields of Kr isotopes (85m, 87, 88, and 89) are measured relative to the cumulative yield of ⁸⁸Kr and compared to previously tabulated values. The results from this experiment and England and Rider are in agreement, except for the ^85mKr/⁸⁸Kr ratio, which may be the result of incorrect nuclear data.