Re-examining intermediate resonant structures in the $^{242}$Pu fission cross section

Carole Chatel (1, 2, 3, 4) , Olivier Bouland (1, 4) , Gilles Noguère (1, 4) , Maria Diakaki (5) , Ludovic Mathieu (2)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)
2 LP2I - Bordeaux - Laboratoire de Physique des Deux Infinis Bordeaux
3 IPHC - Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
4 LEPH - Laboratoire d'Etudes de PHysique
5 NTUA - National Technical University of Athens [Athens]

The study of the $^{242}$ Pu fission cross section has become more important since this isotope is present in Pressurized Water Reactor Uranium Oxide and Mixed Oxide fuel, as well as in fast neutron reactors fuel. This nucleus has been also selected for monitoring the high neutron flux RJH reactor (CEA-Cadarache). For all these reasons, the fission cross section structure of this fertile isotope, and especially its class-II states resonances were investigated in this work. Two class-II states have been identified in the Resolved Resonance Range (RRR) and their parameters have been supplied to the CONRAD code. 68 class- II states have been identified in the Unresolved Resonant Range (URR) and their parameters have been added in the TALYS code data library to reproduce as well as possible the experimental fission cross section. The methodology to identify and insert the class-II states in RRR and URR is described here.

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Théorique [nucl-th]

Carole Chatel, Olivier Bouland, Gilles Noguère, Maria Diakaki, Ludovic Mathieu. Re-examining intermediate resonant structures in the $^{242}$Pu fission cross section. 15th International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology (ND2022), Jul 2022, Online, United States. pp.03010, ⟨10.1051/epjconf/202328403010⟩. ⟨hal-04309768⟩