Abstract
Critical masses of bare metal spheres for 33 actinide isotopes, using the SCALE/XSDRNPM one-dimensional, discrete-ordinates system, are presented. ENDF/B-VI, ENDF/B-VII, and JENDL-3.3 cross sections were used in the calculations. Results are given for isotopes of U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm, and Cf and for one isotope of Es. Calculated k-infinity values for 41 actinides are also given. For the nonthreshold or low-threshold fission nuclides, a good approximation for the nuclide k-infinity is the value of nubar at 1 MeV.
A correlation between the calculated critical mass (kg) and the fission spectrum averaged value of υσF is given for the elements U, Np, Pu, Cm, and Cf as
CM (kg) = exp (A + B × ln(υσF)). (1)
The values of A and B are element dependent and vary slightly for each of the five elements. The method described here is mainly applicable for nonthreshold fission nuclides (15 of the 31 nuclides considered in this paper). We conclude that equation (1) is useful for predicting the critical mass for nonthreshold fission nuclides if we have accurate values of the fission spectrum averaged υσF.