Calculations of Excitation Functions of Some Structural Fusion Materials for (n, t) Reactions up to 50 MeV Energy

Abstract

Fusion serves an inexhaustible energy for humankind. Although there have been significant research and development studies on the inertial and magnetic fusion reactor technology, there is still a long way to go to penetrate commercial fusion reactors to the energy market. Tritium self-sufficiency must be maintained for a commercial power plant. For self-sustaining (D-T) fusion driver tritium breeding ratio should be greater than 1.05. So, the working out the systematics of (n, t) reaction cross sections is of great importance for the definition of the excitation function character for the given reaction taking place on various nuclei at different energies. In this study, (n, t) reactions for some structural fusion materials such as 27Al, 51V, 52Cr, 55Mn, and 56Fe have been investigated. The new calculations on the excitation functions of 27Al(n, t)25Mg, 51V(n, t)49Ti, 52Cr(n, t)50V, 55Mn(n, t)53Cr and 56Fe(n, t)54Mn reactions have been carried out up to 50 MeV incident neutron energy. In these calculations, the pre-equilibrium and equilibrium effects have been investigated. The pre-equilibrium calculations involve the new evaluated the geometry dependent hybrid model, hybrid model and the cascade exciton model. Equilibrium effects are calculated according to the Weisskopf–Ewing model. Also in the present work, we have calculated (n, t) reaction cross-sections by using new evaluated semi-empirical formulas developed by Tel et al. at 14–15 MeV energy. The calculated results are discussed and compared with the experimental data taken from the literature.