Abstract: The beta decays of Br-86 and Rb-91 have been studied using the total absorption spectroscopy technique. The radioactive nuclei were produced at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility in Jyvaskyla and further purified using the JYFLTRAP. Br-86 and Rb-91 are considered to be major contributors to the decay heat in reactors. In addition, Rb-91 was used as a normalization point in direct measurements of mean gamma energies released in the beta decay of fission products by Rudstam et al. assuming that this decaywas well known from high-resolution measurements. Our results show that both decays were suffering from the Pandemonium effect and that the results of Rudstam et al. should be renormalized. The relative impact of the studied decays in the prediction of the decay heat and antineutrino spectrum from reactors has been evaluated.

Abstract: A new high flux experimental area has recently become operational at the nTOF facility at CERN. This new measuring station, nTOF-EAR2, is placed at the end of a vertical beam line at a distance of approximately 20m from the spallation target. The characterization of the neutron beam, in terms of flux, spatial profile and resolution function, is of crucial importance for the feasibility study and data analysis of all measurements to be performed in the new area. In this paper, the measurement of the neutron flux, performed with different solid-state and gaseous detection systems, and using three neutronconverting reactions considered standard in different energy regions is reported. The results of the various measurements have been combined, yielding an evaluated neutron energy distribution in a wide energy range, from 2meV to 100MeV, with an accuracy ranging from 2%, at low energy, to 6% in the high-energy region. In addition, an absolute normalization of the n_TOF-EAR2 neutron flux has been obtained by means of an activation measurement performed with 197 Au foils in the beam.

Abstract: The spent fuel of current nuclear reactors contains fissile plutonium isotopes that can be combined with uranium to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. In this way the Pu from spent fuel is used in a new reactor cycle, contributing to the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy. However, an extensive use of MOX fuels, in particular in fast reactors, requires more accurate capture and fission cross sections for some Pu isotopes. In the case of Pu-242 there are sizable discrepancies among the existing capture cross-section measurements included in the evaluations (all from the 1970s) resulting in an uncertainty as high as 35% in the fast energy region. Moreover, postirradiation experiments evaluated with JEFF-3.1 indicate an overestimation of 14% in the capture cross section in the fast neutron energy region. In this context, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) requested an accuracy of 8% in this cross section in the energy region between 500 meV and 500 keV. This paper presents a new time-of-flight capture measurement on Pu-242 carried out at nTOF-EAR1 (CERN), focusing on the analysis and statistical properties of the resonance region, below 4 keV. The Pu-242(n, gamma) reaction on a sample containing 95(4) mg enriched to 99.959% was measured with an array of four C6D6 detectors and applying the total energy detection technique. The high neutron energy resolution of nTOF-EAR1 and the good statistics accumulated have allowed us to extend the resonance analysis up to 4 keV, obtaining new individual and average resonance parameters from a capture cross section featuring a systematic uncertainty of 5%, fulfilling the request of the NEA.

Abstract: Thin S-33 samples for the study of the S-33(n,alpha)Si-30 cross-section at the n_TOF facility at CERN were made by thermal evaporation of S-33 powder onto a dedicated substrate made of kapton covered with thin layers of copper, chromium and titanium. This method has provided for the first time bare sulfur samples a few centimeters in diameter. The samples have shown an excellent adherence with no mass loss after few years and no sublimation in vacuum at room temperature. The determination of the mass thickness of S-33 has been performed by means of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. The samples have been successfully tested under neutron irradiation.

Abstract: The (33)(n , alpha)Si-30 cross section has been measured at the neutron time-of-flight (n_TOF) facility at CERN in the neutron energy range from 10 to 300 keV relative to the B-10(n, alpha)(7) Li cross-section standard. Both reactions were measured simultaneously with a set of micromegas detectors. The flight path of 185 m has allowed us to obtain the cross section with high-energy resolution. An accurate description of the resonances has been performed by means of the multilevel multichannel R-matrix code SAMMY. The results show a significantly higher area of the biggest resonance (13.45 keV) than the unique high-resolution (n , alpha) measurement. The new parametrization of the 13.45-keV resonance is similar to that of the unique transmission measurement. This resonance is a matter of research in neutron-capture therapy. The S-33(n, alpha)Si-30 cross section has been studied in previous works because of its role in the production of S-36 in stars, which is currently overproduced in stellar models compared to observations.