Fission of Thorium and Uranium by 15 MeV neutrons
AbstractA two-parameter experiment on fission induced by 15 MeV neutrons in natural Thorium and Uranium is reported. The measurements were made at 0° and 90° relative to the neutron beam, using two surface barrier detectors facing each other. From the double energy data the overall distributions in energy, mass and angle were obtained. Conditional distributions for energy and angle with the mass as parameter were also extracted. Results for Thorium: total kinetic energy release
$$\overline {E_T^* } = 165.5$$
 ±3.0 MeV, anisotropyY(0°)/Y(90°)=1.70±0.05. Results for Uranium:
$$\overline {E_T^* } = 168.6$$
 ±3.0 MeV,Y(0°)/Y(90°)=1.32±0.04. The results are discussed in terms of currently available models of fission: Fragment Shell Theories and the Two-Mode-Fission-Hypothesis.