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2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Christmas Light
’Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
No electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged by the chimney with care
With the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
Mojtaba Taherzadeh, Peter J. Gingo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 15 | Number 3 | September 1972 | Pages 396-410
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT72-A16037
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The major sources of neutrons from plutonium dioxide nuclear fuel are considered in detail. These sources include spontaneous fission of several of the plutonium isotopes, (α,n) reactions with low Z impurities in the fuel, and (α,n) reactions with 180. For spontaneous fission neutrons a value of (1.95 ± 0.07) × 103 n/sec/g PuO2 is used. The neutron yield from (α,n) reactions with oxygen is calculated by integrating the reaction rate equation over all alpha-particle energies and all centerofmass angles. The results indicate a neutron emission rate of (1.14 ± 0.26) × 104 n/sec/g PuO2. The neutron yield from (α,n) reactions with low Z impurities in the fuel is presented in tabular form for 1 ppm of each impurity. The total neutron yield due to the combined effects of all the impurities depends on the fractional weight concentration of each impurity. The total neutron flux emitted from a particular fuel geometry is estimated by adding the neutron yield due to the induced fission to the other neutron sources.
