diff --git a/openmc/deplete/helpers.py b/openmc/deplete/helpers.py
index 07c8e20242..43a835908c 100644
--- a/openmc/deplete/helpers.py
+++ b/openmc/deplete/helpers.py
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 """
 Class for normalizing fission energy deposition
 """
-from collections import defaultdict
 from itertools import product
 
-from numpy import dot, zeros, newaxis, divide, asarray
+from numpy import dot, zeros, newaxis, asarray, empty_like, where
 
 from openmc.capi import (
     Tally, MaterialFilter, EnergyFilter)
@@ -290,12 +289,19 @@ class FissionYieldHelper(object):
             len(self._reaction_tally.nuclides))
 
         # Get results specific to this process
-        self.results = result_view[self.local_indexes, ...]
+        fission_rates = result_view[self.local_indexes]
+        self.results = empty_like(fission_rates)
 
-        # scale fission yields proportional to total fission rate
-        fsn_rate = self.results.sum(axis=1)
-        # TODO Guard against divide by zero
-        self.results /= fsn_rate[:, newaxis, :]
+        # scale group fission rates proportional to total fission rate
+        fission_total = fission_rates.sum(axis=1)
+        nz_mat, nz_nuc = fission_total.nonzero()
+        self.results[nz_mat, :, nz_nuc] = (
+            fission_rates[nz_mat, :, nz_nuc]
+            / fission_total[nz_mat, newaxis, nz_nuc])
+
+        # directly set values to zero where total fission rate is zero
+        z_mat, z_nuc = where(fission_total == 0.0)
+        self.results[z_mat, :, z_nuc] = 0.0
 
     def compute_yields(self, local_mat_index):
         """Compute single fission yields using :attr:`results`
diff --git a/openmc/deplete/nuclide.py b/openmc/deplete/nuclide.py
index 80ec648802..8a0a9dc642 100644
--- a/openmc/deplete/nuclide.py
+++ b/openmc/deplete/nuclide.py
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
 
-from numpy import asarray, fromiter, empty
+from numpy import asarray, empty
 
-from openmc.checkvalue import check_type, check_length
+from openmc.checkvalue import check_type
 
 
 DecayTuple = namedtuple('DecayTuple', 'type target branching_ratio')
@@ -260,7 +260,8 @@ class FissionYieldDistribution(Mapping):
             raise ValueError(
                 "Shape of yield matrix inconsistent. "
                 "Should be ({}, {}), is {}".format(
-                    len(energy_map), len(ordered_products), yield_matrix.shape))
+                    len(ordered_energies), len(ordered_products),
+                    yield_matrix.shape))
         self.yield_matrix = yield_matrix
 
     def __len__(self):
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_deplete_nuclide.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_deplete_nuclide.py
index 07f2edb85c..2a3993921f 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_deplete_nuclide.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_deplete_nuclide.py
@@ -151,4 +151,3 @@ def test_fission_yield_distribution():
     assert numpy.array_equal(orig_yield_obj.yields * 2, mod_yields.yields)
     mod_yields += orig_yield_obj
     assert numpy.array_equal(orig_yield_obj.yields * 3, mod_yields.yields)
-