The Extension of the Hauser-Feshbach Fission Fragment Decay Model to Multi-chance Fission and its Application to ²³⁹Pu

LA-UR-22-29923

¹ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
² NAPC–Nuclear Data Section, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna A-1400, Austria

^* e-mail: lovell@lanl.gov

Published online: 26 May 2023

Abstract

The Hauser-Feshbach fission fragment decay model, HF3D, calculates the statistical decay of fission fragments through both prompt and delayed neutron and γ-ray emissions in a deterministic manner. While previously limited to the calculation of only first-chance fission, the model has recently been extended to include multi-chance fission, up to neutron incident energies of 20 MeV. The deterministic decay takes as input prescission quantities–fission probabilities, pre-fission neutron energies, and the average energy causing fission– and post-scission quantities–yields in mass, charge, total kinetic energy, spin, and parity. From those fission fragment initial conditions, the full decay is followed through both prompt and delayed particle emissions. The evaporation of the prompt neutrons and γ rays is calculated through the Hauser-Feshbach statistical theory, taking into account the competition between neutron and γ-ray emission, conserving energy, spin, and parity. The delayed emission is taken into account using time-independent calculation using decay data. This whole formulation allows for the calculation of prompt neutron and γ-ray properties, such as multiplicities and energy distributions, both independent and cumulative fission yields, and delayed neutron observables, in a consistent framework. Here, we describe the implementation of multi-chance fission into the HF³D model, and show an example of prompt and delayed quantities beyond first-chance fission, using the example of neutron-induced fission on ²³⁹Pu. This expansion represents significant progress in consistently modeling the emission of prompt and delayed particles from fissile systems.