Precision β-decay branching ratio measurements for long-lived fission products

ORAL

Abstract

One of the most straightforward and reliable ways to determine the number of fissions that occurred in a chain reaction is via detection of  the characteristic γ rays emitted during the β-decay of the fission products. These γ rays are emitted in only a fraction of the decays, and this fraction must be known accurately to determine the total number of fissions. Many measurements of the β-decay of the long-lived fission products suffer from high uncertainties (even up to 20%) which contributes to the uncertainties in the determined fission yields. We have developed a novel technique to measure (<1% precision) γ-ray intensities and β-decay branching ratios. Our technique takes advantage of radioactive beams from CARIBU facility at Argonne National Lab to produce ultra-pure radioactive samples of fission products, and a nearly 100% efficient 4π β-spectrometer paired with the painstakingly calibrated γ-ray detector [1]. The results of the branching ratios of 95Zr, 144Ce, and 147Nd will be presented. 

[1] R. G. Helmer, J. C. Hardy, V. E. Iacob, M. Sanchez-Vega, R.G. Neilson, and J. Nelson, NIM Phys. Res., Sect. A 511, 360 (2003).


*Work supported by DE-AC52-07NA27344 (LLNL), Office of Nuclear Physics DE-AC02-06CH11357 (ANL), DE-FG03-93ER40773 (Texas A&M), and DE-NA0000979 (UCB).

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Presenters

  • Karolina Kolos

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • LLNL

Authors

  • Karolina Kolos

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • LLNL

  • Amber Marie Hennessy

    • UC Irvine

  • Nicholas David Scielzo

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)
    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Victor Iacob

    • Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
    • Texas A&M Univ

  • Mark Stoyer

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Anton Tonchev

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • Livermore National Laboratory

  • John Hardy

    • Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University
    • Texas A&M Univ

  • Mary Burkey

    • Univ of Chicago, Argonne Natl Lab
    • Univ of Chicago

  • Brian Champine

    • UC Berkeley

  • Jason A Clark

    • Argonne Natl Lab
    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Patrick Copp

    • UMass Lowell

  • Aaron Gallant

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Eric B Norman

    • Univ of California - Berkeley

  • Rodney Orford

    • McGill Univ
    • McGill University

  • Hyo-In Park

    • Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University
    • Texas A&M University
    • Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
    • Texas A&M Univ

  • John Rohrer

    • Argonne Natl Lab

  • Daniel Santiago-Gonzalez

    • Argonne Natl Lab

  • Guy Savard

    • Argonne Natl Lab

  • Athan J. Shaka

    • UC Irvine

  • Shaofei Zhu

    • Argonne National Laboratory
    • Argonne Natl Lab