Study on Key Factors of ²⁵²Cf Production in Super High Flux Reactor

²⁵²Cf is widely used in reactor startup and neutron activation analysis, and it is of great significance to carry out research on irradiation production technology. Production of ²⁵²Cf is not easy because of its huge nucleon number and long nuclide transmutation chain. Based on the lead-cooled fast neutron super high flux research reactor, this paper focuses on the key technologies of its irradiation production. According to the difficulty of ²⁵²Cf production, a precise nuclide databank and longtime burnup calculating procedure of nuclide production targets are established, and the key factors such as target structure and material design, neutron energy spectrum and neutron flux density are studied. The irradiation calculation of ²⁵²Cf target shows that although ²⁵²Cf has a low transmutation productivity, it can be improved with appropriate designs of ²⁵²Cf target, neutron energy spectrum and neutron flux density, thus improving the production efficiency of ²⁵²Cf. A method of optimizing neutron local energy spectrum through resonance shielding is proposed to reduce fission consumption of nuclides, thus improving the production efficiency of ²⁵²Cf. This paper expounds the production mechanism of ²⁵²Cf and the influence law of key factors, and gives the demonstration direction of ²⁵²Cf irradiation production technology design.