THE RESEARCH ON THE POSSIBILITY OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE TRANSMUTATION WITH THE HELP OF ACCELERATORS

With the purpose to improve the base of nuclear data for transmutation technologies they carry out experimental and theoretical investigations on heavy nucleus fission reactions.

The experiments are being realized on the synchrocyclotron (PNPI, Gatchina) with a fast-neutron beam. The installation allows realization of cross-section measurements for heavy nucleus fission caused by fast neutrons within 0.5-200 MeV energy range with 1 MeV spacing.

Two ISTC Projects are completed, and in the run of these Projects they have measured neutron cross-sections of ²³⁸U, ²³³U, ²³²Th, ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴³Am, Pb, Bi, W fission relative to ²³⁵U [1,2].

It is planned to upgrade the installation:

• enlarge energy range accessible for measurements both towards low and high energies
• carry out fission cross-section measurements for the standard, ²³⁵U,relative to cross-section on hydrogen.

Theoretical researches are ongoing in the field of studying an impulse carried over the target's nucleus in reaction of forced fission caused by fast nucleons. They try for quantitative relations between this fission characteristic and fission fragment angular distribution parameters. The goal of investigations is to find a method to test nuclear models on the basis of data obtained in such experiment.