Can nuclear spallation be viewed as a form of fission?

Question

I sometimes find it helpful to reduce specialized terms to their simpler roots.

For instance, alpha emission is really a form of asymmetric fission. And so is neutron emission.

The outcome of a spallation reaction is the emission of multiple neutrons from a (typically) heavy nucleus, which then corresponds to a reduction in mass of the parent nucleus and a certain release of nuclear binding energy. So on first glance, it seems justifiable to consider nuclear spallation to be simply a special variant of nuclear fission.

Any objections to that argument?

Answer 1

Your reasoning makes sense. In fact the spallation case of a single neutron being knocked off of a nucleus would represent the most asymmetric fission case possible, would it not? However, it also make sense to call the process "spallation" because it has a special meaning and practitioners in the field have a common understanding of that meaning.

Answer 2

In Wikipedia

" In nuclear physics, spallation is the process in which a heavy nucleus emits numerous nucleons as a result of being hit by a high-energy particle".

Fission is a more inclusive term, no impacting particle is needed for spontaneous fission.

There is an extra interaction in spallation, it is similar to induced fission