  Background: Fission barriers of actinide nuclei have been mostly and for long
been microscopi- cally calculated for even-even fissioning systems.
Calculations in the case of odd nuclei have been performed merely within a
so-called equal-filling approximation (EFA) as opposed to an approach taking
explicitly into account the time reversal breaking properties at the mean field
level- and for only one single-particle configuration.
  Purpose: We study the dependence of the fission barriers on various relevant
configurations (e.g. to evaluate the so-called specialization energy). Besides,
we want to assess the relevance as a func- tion of the deformation of the EFA
approach which has been already found out at ground state deformation.
  Methods: Calculations within the Hartree-Fock plus BCS with self-consistent
particle blocking have been performed using the SkM* Skyrme effective
interaction in the particle-hole channel and a seniority force in the
particle-particle channel. Axial symmetry has been imposed throughout the whole
fission path while the intrinsic parity symmetry has been allowed to be broken
in the outer fission barrier region.
  Results: Potential energy curves have been determined for six different
configurations in U-235 and four in Pu-239. Inner and outer fission barriers
have been calculated along with some spectroscopic properties in the fission
isomeric well. These results have been compared with available data. The
influence of time-reversal breaking mean fields on the solutions has been
investigated.
  Conclusions: A sizeable configuration dependence of the fission barrier
(width and height) has been demonstrated. A reasonable agreement with available
systematic evaluations of fission barrier heights has been found. The EFA
approach has been validated at the large elongations occurring at the outer
barrier region.
