Characterization of neutron spectrum at Es-Salam Research Reactor using Høgdahl convention and Westcott formalism for the k₀-based neutron activation analysis

Abstract

For the general applicability of the k ₀-NAA method two formalisms were carried out to deal with “1/ν and non-l/ν ((n,γ)” reaction nuclides, respectively. In the Høgdahl-formalism the reactor neutron spectrum parameters, such as α and f were measured using three methods: Cd-ratio, Cdcovered and bare triple monitors. In addition, bare bi-isotopic method using Zr is also utilized for the calculation of f. According to the Westcottformalism the modified spectral index r(α)√T _n /T ₀ and g(T _n ) factor for monitoring neutron temperature T _n , were measured employing Lu as non “1/v” monitor and ¹⁹⁷Au, ⁹⁶Zr and ⁹⁴Zr as “1/v” monitors. The reduced resonance integral of lutetium s _0,Lu was also calculated. To evaluate the applicability of k ₀-NAA in our analytical system, the analysis of two kinds of SRMs was executed. The analytical results showed that the relative error of most of the elements was less than 10%.