Neutron cross-section measurements in the Th-U cycle by the activation method

Abstract

The 232Th(n,2n)231Th reaction cross-section was measured relative to the 56Fe(n,p)56Mn and 27Al(n,a)24Na reaction cross-sections with the activation method for neutron energies up to 11 MeV. Neutrons were produced by the 2H(d,n) reaction in the 5.5MV Tandem accelerator of the NCSR ‘‘Demokritos’’. The characteristic g lines of the product nuclei 231Th (25.646 keV) and 56Mn (846.771 keV) or 24Na (1368 keV) were measured with an 80mm2 Si(Li) and a 20% reverseelectrode coaxial germanium detector, respectively. The results indicate that our values are in agreement with the JEF2 and BROND2 database values up to 9MeV and slightly higher than those from all the libraries for higher energies.