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Cross section of the 232Th(n, f) reaction in the MeV neutron energy region

The European Physical Journal A volume 58, Article number: 86 (2022) Cite this article

Abstract

Accurate cross section of the 232Th(n, f) reaction are demanded in the design of advanced nuclear systems and in the development of fission theory. However, the existing measurement data are relatively sparse comparing with those of the 238U(n, f) reaction, with big uncertainties and obvious discrepancies. Furthermore, analysis shows that systematic deviations exist between the results measured with mono-energetic neutron sources and white neutron sources, which is the main reason for the differences among different evaluation libraries. This work is dedicated to the clarification of this discrepancy. Based on mono-energetic d-d neutron sources and using back-to-back Th/238U samples, cross section of the 232Th(n, f) reaction were measured at 12 energies in the 4.2–11.5 MeV region. Elaborated measures were taken in the measurement procedure including the exchange of the forward and the backward direction of the samples, as well as in the data processing containing the correction of interference fission counts from low-energy neutrons and the detailed Monte Carlo simulations for the determination of detection efficiencies for fission events. In addition, theoretical analysis was also performed using TALYS-1.9 and UNF codes. The present results agree with existing measurement data using white neutron sources, showing that previous cross section of the 232Th(n, f) reaction measured using mono-energetic neutron sources are systematically overestimated on average. The present results are in accordance with the latest measurement data of Michalopoulou et al., which is helpful in the improvement of nuclear data evaluations of the 232Th(n, f) reaction.

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taken from the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library [10]

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Data Availability Statement

This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Authors’ comment: The final results of the experiment are presented in this paper. The origin data contains binary data of the signal waveforms from the detectors and it is too large to upload or deliver.]

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the operating crew of the 4.5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator at Peking University and the HI-13 tandem accelerator at China Institute of Atomic Energy. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11775006 and 12075008) and by the Key Laboratory of Nuclear Data foundation (6142A08200103).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, 141980, Russia

    Yu. M. Gledenov, E. Sansarbayar & I. Chuprakov

  2. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Zengqi Cui, Jie Liu, Haoyu Jiang, Yiwei Hu, Haofan Bai, Jinxiang Chen & Guohui Zhang

  3. Nuclear Research Centre, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

    E. Sansarbayar & G. Khuukhenkhuu

  4. Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, 141980, Russia

    L. Krupa

  5. Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University, Horska 3a/22, 12800, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    L. Krupa

  6. L. N. Gumilyov, Eurasian National University, Nur-sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan

    I. Chuprakov

  7. The Institute of Nuclear Physics, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 050032, Kazakhstan

    I. Chuprakov

  8. China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing, 102413, China

    Yinlu Han, Xichao Ruan, Hanxiong Huang & Jie Ren

Authors
  1. Yu. M. Gledenov
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  2. Zengqi Cui
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  3. Jie Liu
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  4. Haoyu Jiang
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  5. Yiwei Hu
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  6. Haofan Bai
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  7. Jinxiang Chen
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  8. Guohui Zhang
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  9. E. Sansarbayar
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  10. G. Khuukhenkhuu
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  11. L. Krupa
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  12. I. Chuprakov
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  13. Yinlu Han
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  14. Xichao Ruan
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  15. Hanxiong Huang
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  16. Jie Ren
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guohui Zhang.

Additional information

Communicated by Jose Benlliure.

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Gledenov, Y.M., Cui, Z., Liu, J. et al. Cross section of the 232Th(n, f) reaction in the MeV neutron energy region. Eur. Phys. J. A 58, 86 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-022-00716-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-022-00716-8