https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2025061
Regular Article
Re-evaluating the prompt fission neutron spectrum of spontaneously fissioning 252Cf
1
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA
2
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA
3
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA
4
International Atomic Energy Agency, A-1400 Vienna, Austria
5
Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA
6
Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
7
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA
* e-mail: dneudecker@lanl.gov
Received:
17
June
2025
Received in final form:
17
June
2025
Accepted:
25
August
2025
Published online: 5 November 2025
The prompt fission neutron spectrum (PFNS) of spontaneously fissioning 252Cf is a Neutron Data Standards observable. Nearly all fission spectra of actinides were measured relative to it, using efficiencies derived from it, or analyzed with simulations validated by it. The current Standards evaluation was published by W. Mannhart in 1987. It could not be updated because the evaluation input, experimental mean values and covariances, were lost. First, we attempt to reproduce it. However, Mannhart’s evaluation can only be reproduced within its one-σ uncertainties as some of its aspects (e.g., experimental covariances, rejected data points) remain unknown. Therefore, a new evaluation is presented: We revisit all existing experimental 252Cf(sf) PFNS data, including those published after the release of the current Standards evaluation, and re-estimate associated covariances. The newly evaluated 252Cf(sf) PFNS differs distinctly from Mannhart’s below 300 keV and extends it to lower and higher outgoing neutron energies (500 eV–25 MeV). The new evaluated uncertainties are larger from 3–9 MeV and smaller otherwise. Spectrum averaged cross sections of importance to the International Reactor Dosimetry and Fusion File community calculated with the new spectrum are close to those calculated with Mannhart’s evaluation and agree with experimental values well within their uncertainties.
© D. Neudecker et al., Published by EDP Sciences, 2025
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
