Orateur
M.
Michael Bacak
(CEA Saclay, Irfu; CERN)
Description
233U plays the essential role of the fissile nucleus in the Th-U fuel cycle, which has been proposed as a safer and cleaner alternative to the U-Pu fuel cycle. A particularity of 233U is its small neutron capture cross-section which is about one order of magnitude lower than the fission cross-section on average. Therefore, the accuracy in the measurement of the 233U capture cross-section essentially relies on efficient capture-fission discrimination thus a combined setup of fission and γ-detectors is needed. A new measurement campaign of the 233U capture cross-section and alpha ratio has been proposed at the CERN n_TOF facility using the facility's Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC) coupled with a compact fission detector. For this measurement, a novel cylindrical multi ionization cell chamber was developed in order to provide a compact solution for 14 active targets. Due to the high specific activity of 233U fast timing properties are required and achieved with the use of customized electronics and the very fast ionizing gas CF4. The measurement was recently successfully performed and is expected to provide the neutron-induced capture and fission cross sections for this important isotope, as well as very valuable information on the distribution of energies and multiplicities of the prompt γ-rays emitted after capture and fission reactions. The experimental setup, the n_TOF facility as well as preliminary results will be presented and discussed.
Auteur principal
M.
Michael Bacak
(CEA Saclay, Irfu; CERN)
