Calculation of the energy dependence of fission fragments yields and kinetic energy distributions for neutron-induced 235U fission*

Abstract

Abstract Fission fragments yields and average total kinetic energy are fundamental nuclear data for nuclear energy applications and the study of nuclear devices. Certain fission products, such as 95Zr, 99Mo, 140Ba, 144Ce, and 147Nd, serve as burnup monitors, assessing the number of fissions induced by neutrons on 235U. However, current experimental data for these fission products worldwide are inconsistent, introducing significant uncertainty into related scientific research. In this study, we employed the Potential-driving Model to calculate the independent yields of 235U and evaluate its advantages in such calculations. Additionally, we investigated the energy dependence of independent yields to select important products. Furthermore, we calculated the cumulative yields of 95Zr, 99Mo, 140Ba, 144Ce, and 147Nd, and compared them with existing literature data to explore the energy dependence of fission products for 235U. Given the lack of fission product yield data above 14.8 MeV, we extended our calculated incident neutron energy to 20 MeV, aiming to support future scientific research. The Geant4 physical model does not consider the influence of incident neutron energy on the average total kinetic energy of fission fragments; thus, we introduced the excitation function of the total kinetic energy of fission fragments recommended by Madland et al., which effectively describes the experimental data of the average total kinetic energy of fragments formed in 235U fission. In this paper, we comprehensively discuss the energy dependence of fission product yields and average total kinetic energy.