Abstract:
The cumulative yields of 95Zr, "Mo, 103Ru, 106Ru, 144Ce and 147Nd in the fission of 238U induced by neutrons of 14.9 MeV were determined absolutely by radiochemical method. The 14.9±0.46 MeV neutrons were produced in the T (D,n)'He reaction using the 600kV Cockcroft-Walton type accelerator. The neutron flux varied between 2×109 and 1010 neutrons/sec. In this work the natural uranium was used as material of sample and standard targets. The standard targets were prepared by molecular plating and the sample targets were uranium metal disks with masses ranging from 1.5 to 3 gramms. The absolute fission rate of the sample target was measured by double fission ionization chamber.The irradiated targets were dissolved, and carriers of each element were added. By means of modified standard radiochemical procedures the above mentioned nuclides were separated, purified and mounted. The radioassay of radionuclides separated from the sample was carried out by using two types of detectors, namely, a low background counter for β-counting, and Nal(Tl) crystal detector coupled with a single channel analyzer for γ-counting. Both of the detectors were calibrated by 4π/β-γ coincidence counting.The cumulative yields determined by the above mentioned method are listed in following table.The errors given in the table are total errors including statistical and systematic errors. The yield values of this work are found to be in good agreement with most reported yields within error limits.