Assessment of gamma-rays generated by the spontaneous fission source 252Cf using a Monte Carlo method

This paper represents the evaluation of the gamma-ray spectrum associated with the Cf-252 spontaneous fission source, based on Monte Carlo simulation. In this study, with the help of the fission yields and gamma-ray spectrum emitted from each of the products, the probability of gammas in Cf-252 fission has been obtained. Furthermore, the probabilities of emitted gammas following the alpha decay from Cf-252 have been computed, given that in this isotope 96.91% of decays are in the form of alpha. Finally, about 450 gammas with different energies and probabilities have been extracted and after regulating their normalization, they are given to the MCNP computer code as input. Some addition gammas due to (n, gamma) interaction in the detector have also been considered. The obtained results are in relatively good agreement with experiment data. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.