Empirical Formulas for Estimation of Fission Prompt Neutron Multiplicity for Actinide Nuclides

Abstract

Empirical formulas were obtained for estimation of the prompt neutron multiplicity for actinides as a function of the incident neutron energy. Measured data for eleven nuclides (²³²Th, ²³³U, ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U, ²³⁷Np, ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴¹Pu, ²⁴¹Am, ²⁴³Am, and ²⁴⁵Cm) were used as the basis to extract systematic relations of slopes and intercepts of a linear function of the prompt neutron multiplicity. The obtained formulas were compared with available measured data and existing evaluations. It was found that these formulas could be used to estimate the quantity for nuclides for which no or scarce data is available.