A New Methodology for Adjustment of Iron Scattering Cross Sections Using Time-of-Flight Spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract Monte Carlo analysis of a time-of-flight experiment was performed to investigate the iron scattering cross section. Experimental data were utilized to build a Monte Carlo source for simulation of a time-of-flight (ToF) experiment with a spherical iron shell, different source spectra, and different angular beam source alignments. For this study, two pointwise cross section libraries, ENDF/B-VI and JEFF 3.0 are examined. Comparison of calculation and experimental results indicates differences that are larger than experimental and calculation errors. To reduce the observed discrepancy, pointwise data in the ENDF/B-VI iron scattering cross section file were adjusted at a few energy intervals using a utility code developed for this purpose. Adjusted cross sections resulted in closer agreement of calculated results with the experimental Time-of-Flight data. Multigroup cross sections were generated with the adjusted cross sections and results indicate pressure vessel fluence may be underestimated.