Modeling Photon-Induced Reactions On U233-238 Actinide Targets

Comprehensive calculations of photon-induced reactions on U233-238 targets for incident photon energies from 3 up to 30 MeV are undertaken with the statistical model code EMPIRE-3.2 Malta. Results are compared with the experimental data from EXFOR and with the current evaluations. The differences and the similarities between the models and parameters used in calculations of photon- and neutron-induced reactions on the same nuclei are discussed with focus on fission. The role of the extended optical model for fission that includes partial damping in the continuum in improving the description of the measured data is pointed out.