Measurement of the 244Cm and 246Cm neutron-induced capture cross sections at the n_TOF facility

Alcayne, V.; Kimura, A.; Mendoza, E.; Cano-Ott, D.; Martínez, T.; Aberle, O.; Andrzejewski, J.; Audouin, L.; Bécares, V.; Bacak, M.; Barbagallo, M.; Becčvář, F.; Bellia, G.; Berthoumieux, E.; Billowes, J.; Bosnar, D.; Brown, A.; Busso, M.; Caamaño, M.; Caballero-Ontanaya, L.; Calviño, F.; Calviani, M.; Casanovas, A.; Cerutti, F.; Chen, Y. H.; Chiaveri, E.; Colonna, N.; Cortés, G.; Cortés-Giraldo, M. A.; Cosentino, L.; Cristallo, S.; Damone, L. A.; Diakaki, M.; Dietz, M.; Domingo-Pardo, C.; Dressler, R.; Dupont, E.; Durán, I.; Eleme, Z.; Fernández-Domínguez, B.; Ferrari, A.; Finocchiaro, P.; Furman, V.; Göbel, K.; Gawlik, A.; Gilardoni, S.; Glodariu, T.; Gonçalves, I. F.; González-Romero, E.; Guerrero, C.; Gunsing, F.; Harada, H.; Heinitz, S.; Heyse, J.; Jenkins, D. G.; Käppeler, F.; Kadi, Y.; Katabuchi, T.; Kivel, N.; Knapova, I.; Kokkoris, M.; Kopatch, Y.; Krtička, M.; Kurtulgil, D.; Ladarescu, I.; Lederer-Woods, C.; Lerendegui-Marco, J.; Meo, S. Lo; Lonsdale, S. J.; Macina, D.; Manna, A.; Masi, A.; Massimi, C.; Mastinu, P.; Mastromarco, M.; Matteucci, F.; Maugeri, E. A.; Mazzone, A.; Mengoni, A.; Michalopoulou, V.; Milazzo, P. M.; Mingrone, F.; Musumarra, A.; Negret, A.; Nolte, R.; Ogállar, F.; Oprea, A.; Patronis, N.; Pavlik, A.; Perkowski, J.; Persanti, L.; Porras, I.; Praena, J.; Quesada, J. M.; Radeck, D.; Ramos-Doval, D.; Rauscher, T.; Reifarth, R.; Rochman, D.; Sabaté-Gilarte, M.; Saxena, A.; Schillebeeckx, P.; Schumann, D.; Simone, S.; Smith, A. G.; Sosnin, N. V.; Stamatopoulos, A.; Tagliente, G.; Tain, J. L.; Talip, T.; Tarifeño-Saldivia, A.; Tassan-Got, L.; Tsinganis, A.; Ulrich, J.; Urlass, S.; Valenta, S.; Vannini, G.; Variale, V.; Vaz, P.; Ventura, A.; Vescovi, D.; Vlachoudis, V.; Vlastou, R.; Wallner, A.; Woods, P. J.; Wright, T.; Žugec, P.

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201921103008

The neutron capture reactions of the 244Cm and 246Cm isotopes open the path for the formation of heavier Cm isotopes and heavier elements such as Bk and Cf in a nuclear reactor. In addition, both isotopes belong to the minor actinides with a large contribution to the decay heat and to the neutron emission in irradiated fuels. There are only two previous 244Cm and 246Cm capture cross section measurements: one in 1969 using a nuclear explosion [1] and the most recent data measured at J-PARC in 2010 [2]. The data for both isotopes are very scarce due to the difficulties in performing the measurements: high intrinsic activity of the samples and limited facilities capable of providing isotopically enriched samples. We have measured both neutron capture cross sections at the n_TOF Experimental Area 2 (EAR-2) with three C6 D6 detectors and also at Area 1 (EAR-1) with the TAC. Preliminary results assessing the quality and limitations (back-ground subtraction, measurement technique and counting statistics) of this new experimental datasets are presented and discussed.