Half-life(s) of Cf-252

[Brian Rees <brees@lanl.gov>]

Somewhere in the deep recess of my mind (well, maybe not deep, but 
definitely in recess) I seem to remember that Cf-252 has two different 
half-lives, one for spontaneous fission, and one for alpha decay.  I cannot 
find a reference for this (on my shelf), although I did find a line that 
mentioned the effective half-life of Cf-252, so maybe the blonde hairs 
haven't taken over completely.  Am I out to lunch on this?
If I am indeed recalling this correctly, what is the mechanism that 
determines the decay mode (like spin, etc.)?

Thanks in advance

Brian Rees
brees@lanl.gov

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