Recent Developments of the Cascade-Exciton Model of Nuclear Reactions

Abstract

Recent developments of the Cascade-Exciton Model (CEM) of nuclear reactions are described. The improved cascade-exciton model as implemented in the code CEM97 differs from the CEM95 version by incorporating new approximations for the elementary cross sections used in the cascade, using more precise values for nuclear masses and pairing energies, using corrected systematics for the level-density parameters, and several other refinements. We have improved algorithms used in many subroutines, decreasing the computing time by up to a factor of 6 for heavy targets. We describe a number of further improvements and changes to CEM97, motivated by new data on isotope production measured at GSI. This leads us to CEM2k, a new version of the CEM code. CEM2k has a longer cascade stage, less preequilibrium emission, and evaporation from more highly excited compound nuclei compared to earlier versions. CEM2k also has other improvements and allows us to better model neutron, radionuclide, and gas production in ATW spallation targets. The increased accuracy and predictive power of the code CEM2k are shown by several examples. Further necessary work is outlined.