Cross sections of (n,x) reactions on cerium isotopes induced by D-T neutrons

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.03.012Get rights and content

Highlights

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    The cross sections of Ce isotopes induced by neutron were measured around 14 MeV.

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    The reaction channels are (n, 2n), (n, α), (n, p) and (n, γ).

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    The relative uncertainties were better than those of the reported data.

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    The results were in agreement with the evaluated data and calculated results.

Abstract

Neutron induced reaction cross sections of Cerium isotopes (136Ce, 138Ce, 140Ce, 142Ce) were investigated for the (n, 2n), (n, α), (n, p) and (n, γ) reactions in the neutron energy around 14 MeV. Experimental cross sections have been obtained for 136Ce(n, 2n)135m+gCe, 138Ce(n, 2n)137mCe, 140Ce(n, 2n)139m+gCe, 142Ce(n, 2n)141gCe, 140Ce(n, p)140gLa, 142Ce(n, p)142gLa, 140Ce(n, α)137mBa, 142Ce(n, α)139Ba and 142Ce(n, γ)143Ce reactions. The measured values were compared with the literature data as well as the evaluated nuclear data from ENDF/B-VII.1, CENDL-3.1, JENDL-4.0 and the calculated results by Talys-1.8 code.

Introduction

Neutron activation cross sections around 14 MeV from D-T neutrons are utilized for fast neutron activation analysis. Many important practical applications of the data are testing nuclear models, radiation damage effects, and gas production in fusion reactors. A lot of experimental data on neutron induced cross sections have been reported and great efforts have been devoted to compilations and evaluations (CINDA-A, 2000; NNDC). Here we concentrate on fast neutron induced reactions on cerium (Ce). Cerium is the most abundant among all rare earth elements and recently has many new applications. It is used as a radiation hardening agent in the glass industry and as diluent in uranium, plutonium and thorium oxide nuclear fuels due to its low neutron capture cross section. Several groups have studied the cross sections of 136Ce(n, 2n)135m+gCe (Filatenkov Chuvaevet al., 2000; Filatenkov Chuvaevet al., 1999; Qaimet al., 1974; Teng Zhaoet al., 1985; Bariet al., 1971; Lu Ranakumaret al., 1970a; Kong Wanget al., 1997; Luo Anet al., 2015a), 138Ce(n, 2n)137m+gCe (Qaimet al., 1974; Teng Zhaoet al., 1985; Bariet al., 1971; Lu Ranakumaret al., 1970a; Kong Wanget al., 1997; Luo Anet al., 2015b; Filatenkov, 2016), 140Ce(n, 2n)139m+gCe (Filatenkov Chuvaevet al., 1999; Qaimet al., 1974; Teng Zhaoet al., 1985; Bariet al., 1971; Lu Ranakumaret al., 1970a; Luo Anet al., 2015a; Kasugai Ikedaet al., 1997; Sothras Salaitaet al., 1978; Molla Miahet al., 1997; Bormann Behrendet al., 1968; Dilg Vonachet al., 1968; Zhu Chenet al., 2011; Kong wanget al., 1995; Csikai Fominichet al., 1968), 142Ce(n, 2n)141gCe (Filatenkov Chuvaevet al., 2000; Filatenkov Chuvaevet al., 1999; Qaimet al., 1974; Teng Zhaoet al., 1985; Bariet al., 1971; Lu Ranakumaret al., 1970a; Luo Anet al., 2015a; Kasugai Ikedaet al., 1997; Bormann Behrendet al., 1968; Dilg Vonachet al., 1968; Zhu Chenet al., 2011; Kong wanget al., 1995; Csikai Fominichet al., 1968; Wille Finket al., 1960; Cuzzocrea Notarrigoet al., 1967; Levkovskii Kovelskayaet al., 1969), 140Ce(n, p)140gLa (Filatenkov Chuvaevet al., 2000; Filatenkov Chuvaevet al., 1999; Teng Zhaoet al., 1985; Kong Wanget al., 1997; Luo Anet al., 2015a; Kasugai Ikedaet al., 1997; Wille Finket al., 1960; Cuzzocrea Notarrigoet al., 1967; Coleman Hawkeret al., 1959; Qaimet al., 1976; Lu Ranakumaret al., 1970b; Bariet al., 1982) and 142Ce(n, p)142gLa (Wille Finket al., 1960; Cuzzocrea Notarrigoet al., 1967; Coleman Hawkeret al., 1959; Qaimet al., 1976; Prasad Sarkaret al., 1971; Kong Wanget al., 1998; Luo Anet al., 2015b), 140Ce(n, α)137mBa (Kasugai Ikedaet al., 1997; Wille Finket al., 1960; Luo Anet al., 2015b; Paul Charkeet al., 1953; Bormann Dreyeret al., 1966; Reyhancan, 2012; Havliket al., 1971; Murahira Satohet al., 1996; Qaim, 1984), 142Ce(n, α)139Ba (Lu Ranakumaret al., 1970a; Wille Finket al., 1960; Cuzzocrea Notarrigoet al., 1967; Coleman Hawkeret al., 1959; Bariet al., 1982; Qaim, 1984; Levkovskii Kovelskayaet al., 1969; Chaturverdi Pandeyet al., 1977), 142Ce(n, γ)143Ce (Schwerer Winkler-Rohatschet al., 1976; Perkin OConnoret al., 1958; Peto Milligyet al., 1967; Trofimovet al., 1987) reactions of the cerium isotopes induced by neutrons around 14 MeV. Most of the experimental measurements were carried out before the 2000s. The results were not in good agreement with each other. There were limited experimental data for the activation cross section of Ce isotope published over the past two decades. So it is important to measure them again more accurately.

Our group has been measuring the activation cross section data induced by D-T neutrons using the activation method for many years, e.g., the cross sections of Ho, W, Ni isotope (Fang Xianget al., 2009; Fanget al., 2008; Fang Xuet al., 2008) and the fission cross sections of 232Th and 238U (Fang Lanet al, 2012; Wang Zouet al., 2014; Lan Liuet al., 2016; Zhang Liuet al., 2017; Lan Qiuet al., 2017) have been studied and a set of mature measurement methods was developed. In the present work, the cross sections of four (n, 2n), two (n, p), two (n, α) and one (n, γ) reactions on Ce isotopes were investigated at neutron energies of 14.2 and 14.9 MeV. The measured results were compared with those reported previously and also with the evaluated data as well as the theoretical results.

Section snippets

Samples and irradiations

The neutron bombardment was performed on the intense 14 MeV Neutron Source Facility, OKTAVIAN, in the division of sustainable energy and environmental engineering of Osaka University, Japan. This high beam current 300 kV Cockroft-Walton type D-T neutron source was designed to produce continuously 3 × 1012 D-T neutron/sec with a rotating T-Ti target, and 3 × 1010 D-D neutron/sec with a rotating self-loaded target. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the experimental setup, and more details

Formulation

The measured cross section (σx) was deduced with the following formula by using the relative activation technique of neutrons (Kong Wanget al., 1999):σx=[ηεIγMSDK]m[λAFC]x[ηεIγMSDK]x[λAFC]m⋅σmwhere, the subscripts x and m represent the term corresponding to the measured (x) and monitor (m) reaction, respectively. σx is the measured cross section. σm is the cross section of the 27Al(n, α)24Na monitor reaction. η is the isotopic abundance of the target nuclide. ε is the efficiency of the measured

Experimental results

The cross sections for 136Ce(n, 2n)135m+gCe, 138Ce(n, 2n)137mCe, 140Ce(n, 2n)139m+gCe, 142Ce(n, 2n)141gCe, 140Ce(n, p)140gLa, 142Ce(n, p)142gLa, 140Ce(n, α)137mBa, 142Ce(n, α)139Ba and 142Ce(n, γ)143Ce reactions on cerium isotopes were obtained. In the calculations, the cross section for the 27Al(n, α)24Na reaction was obtained by fitting the evaluated values of ENDF/B-VII.1, 2011 (NNDC). The measured cross-sections are summarized in Table 3.

Discussions

Four characteristic gamma peaks, whose γ-ray

Conclusions

In this work, a series of experiments have been carried out, and the activation cross sections of cerium isotopes (136Ce, 138Ce, 140Ce, 142Ce) were studied at the neutron energy of 14.2 and 14.9 MeV. The experimental cross sections for 136Ce(n, 2n)135m+gCe, 138Ce(n, 2n)137mCe, 140Ce(n, 2n)139m+gCe, 142Ce(n, 2n)141gCe, 140Ce(n, p)140gLa, 142Ce(n, p)142gLa, 140Ce(n, α)137mBa, 142Ce(n, α)139Ba and 142Ce(n, γ)143Ce reactions were obtained and compared with the previous experimental data, the

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 11075067 and 11305080), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grants No. lzujbky-2016-33).

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