246–248Cm Neutron fission cross sections and resonance integrals

In the present work, the fission cross sections of 246‐248 Cm for neutron energies <20 keV were measured at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IYaI RAN) as part of the program of study of the fission of transuranium nuclei using an SVZ-100 lead moderation time neutron spectrometer [1‐5]. Even though their resolution is low such spectrometers are used successfully to measure the cross section of nuclides which are difficult or impossible to study by other methods [6]. Experimental and Recommended Data. The fission cross sections of curium isotopes, especially even-even nuclei, in the resonance neutron energy range are poorly studied nuclear constants. The main information has been obtained in two works. In the first one an experiment was performed on neutrons from an underground nuclear explosion Physics 8 (USA) by the time-of-flight method at energies above 10 eV [7]. 246 Cm targets with mass m = 16.3 μg and content of the main isotope 94.7%, 247 Cm (m = 26.9 μg, 20.9%), and 248 Cm (m = 67.6 μg, 89.3%) were used in the studies. The lowest error in the data taking account normalization was 8‐11% and on average was worse than 20%.