https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2011-11051-2
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Measurement of the neutron capture cross-section of 232Th using the neutron activation technique
1
Radiochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400 085, Mumbai, India
2
Reactor Physics Design Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400 085, Mumbai, India
3
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, The M. S. University of Baroda, 390 002, Vadodara, India
4
Nuclear Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400 085, Mumbai, India
5
Radiopharmaceutical Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 400 085, Mumbai, India
6
Department of Physics, University of Pune, Pune, 411 007, India
7
Department of Statistics, Manipal University, 576 104, Manipal, India
* e-mail: naikhbarc@yahoo.com
Received:
18
December
2010
Accepted:
4
March
2011
Published online:
20
April
2011
The 232Th(n,
) reaction cross-section at average neutron energies of 3.7±0.3 MeV and 9.85±0.38 MeV from the 7Li(p, n) reaction has been determined for the first time using activation and off-line -ray spectrometric technique. The 232Th(n, 2n) reaction cross-section at the average neutron energy of 9.85±0.38 MeV has been also determined using the same technique. The experimentally determined 232Th(n,) and 232Th(n, 2n) reaction cross-sections were compared with the evaluated data of ENDF/B-VII, JENDL-4.0 and JEFF-3.1 and were found to be in good agreement. The present data along with literature data in a wide range of neutron energies were interpreted in terms of competition between different reaction channels including fission. The 232Th(n,) and 232Th(n, 2n) reaction cross-sections were also calculated theoretically using the TALYS 1.2 computer code and were found to be slightly higher than the experimental data.
© SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2011
