Nuclear Data: Fission Yields, Decay Heat and Neutron Reaction Cross Sections

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The UK now has little capability in nuclear data measurement and evaluation despite the fact that these data are absolutely critical in underpinning many industrial nuclear applications. The nuclear industry in particular now faces a number of challenges connected with new nuclear build, plutonium disposition, and geological disposal. These areas rely on nuclear data codes which have served the UK well over the years but, due to compensating errors and correcting factors, are likely to depart from observation as the envelope of operation is extended into the new areas of application.This outline proposal will allow the UK to re-engage with international efforts to measure neutron absorption ad fission cross sections, fission yields, and gamma decay heat measurements at a number of European research facilities. This consortium will also help the analysis and evaluation work to ensure the nuclear industry in the UK benefits from the new measurements in a timely manner.The three strands of the proposed research programme are: (i) measurements of neutron capture cross sections on actinide targets through UK membership of the neutron Time-of-Flight collaboration working at CERN; (ii) Gamma decay heat measurements using a Total Absorption Spectrometer, and (iii) measurements of neutron-induced fission cross sections and fission yields using the UK's STEFF spectrometer at the SPIRAL2 pulsed neutron facility at GANIL (France).