Self-consistent calculation of the fission barrier of 240Pu

Completely self-consistent calculations using the Skyrme force have been carried out for the fission energy curve of ²⁴⁰Pu. We use a deformed oscillator basis including 13 major shells and convergence has been checked by extending the size of the basis to 15 shells. We obtain a double humped barrier with energies E_A = 9 MeV for the first barrier, E_B = 13 MeV for the second barrier and E_II = 4 MeV for the isomeric state. Corrections to our calculation, such as inclusion of non-axial and symmetric shapes and zero-point rotational motion, are likely to improve quantitative agreement with experimental data.