UC Berkeley

Precisely-known fission yield distributions are used to determine a fissioning isotope and the incident neutron energies in nuclear security applications. 14 MeV neutrons from DT fusion at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) induced fission in depleted uranium (DU) contained in the target assembly hohlraum. The fission yields of Kr isotopes (85m, 87, 88, 89, and 90) were measured relative to the cumulative yield of 88Kr. The fission gas was pumped from the target chamber, collected, and analyzed in the Radiochemical Analysis of Gaseous Samples (RAGS) diagnostic. Isotopes with half-lives ranging 8 s-9 hr can be measured. Kr fission yields have been measured both from the fission of DU in the hohlraum and DU doped into the capsule ablator. Since the mass of U was not known, the relative amounts of Kr isotopes were calculated and compared to existing fission product distribution tables.

It was found that measurements can be performed with high precision for isotopes with half lives longer than 4 minutes. A more precise quantification of gas transport needs to be achieved to quantify isotopes with shorter half lives to a precision of the published tables.