Fissility of actinide nuclei by 60-130 MeV photons

Nuclear fissilities obtained from recent photofission reaction cross section measurements carried out at Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory (Saskatoon, Canada) in the energy range 60-130 MeV for 232Th, 233U, 235U, 238U, and 237Np nuclei have been analysed in a systematic way. To this aim, a semiempirical approach has been developed based on the quasi-deuteron nuclear photoabsorption model followed by the process of competition between neutron evaporation and fission for the excited nucleus. The study reproduces satisfactorily well the increasing trend of nuclear fissility with parameter Z2/A. (author)