TALYS calculations of prompt fission observables and independent fission product yields for the neutron-induced fission of $$^{235}$$U

Abstract

Abstract The TALYS nuclear reaction code’s Hauser-Feshbach statistical decay model has been adapted in order to calculate prompt fission neutron and $$\gamma $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>γ</mml:mi></mml:math> -ray observables by iterating over deexciting fission fragments. Several fission fragment generators such as GEF, HF $$^{3}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math> D, and SPY were employed to provide TALYS with databases. These databases contain standardized tables with fission fragment yields, mean excitation energies and their widths, and average total kinetic energy, as a function of charge and mass number of primary fission fragments. The resulting calculations, including prompt particle multiplicities, spectra, average energies, and independent fission product yields, were compared with experimental and evaluated data. This work first outlines the new methodology implemented in TALYS and examines the effects of three important parameters on the final evaporation data. Furthermore, the neutron-induced fission of $$^{235}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>235</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math> U is investigated in detail as a function of incident energy. The results from TALYS, with input from GEF and HF $$^{3}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math> D, were compared with available experimental data and the results of the stand-alone GEF code. The proposed methodology contributes to an improved capability to model the fission process.