Abstract
New measurements of the neutron scattering double differential cross section of iron were carried out at the neutron time-of-flight facilities GELINA and nELBE. A neutron spectrometer consisting of an array of up to 32 liquid organic scintillators was employed, which was designed to measure the scattering differential cross section at eight scattering angles and to simultaneously determine the integral cross section via numerical quadrature. The separation of elastic from inelastic scattering was achieved by analyzing the time-of-flight-dependent light-output distributions to determine the scattered neutron energy. The method was validated by studying elastic scattering on carbon and it was proved to work well for the determination of the elastic cross section. Here, the possibility to extend it to inelastic scattering was investigated too. For these experiments a sample of natural iron was used and the results cover the incident neutron energy range from 2 to 6 MeV. Both the differential and the integral elastic cross sections were produced for $^{\mathrm{nat}}\mathrm{Fe}$, while for inelastic scattering, partial angular distributions for scattering from the first excited level of $^{56}\mathrm{Fe}$ could be determined.
Highlights
For most nuclear facilities and equipment iron is a major structural material, and accurate neutron data are indispensable for their design and reliable operation
In [3], the results of a spherical shell transmission experiment were reported for three energies between 6 and 11 MeV, which suggested that the inelastic cross section in the ENDF/B-VII library should be 21% to 35% lower
The uncertainties on elastic scattering should be consistently lowered too [1], and the neutron angular distributions are an item on the INDEN (International Nuclear Data Evaluation Network) high-priority list [5]
Summary
For most nuclear facilities and equipment iron is a major structural material, and accurate neutron data are indispensable for their design and reliable operation. In [3], the results of a spherical shell transmission experiment were reported for three energies between 6 and 11 MeV, which suggested that the inelastic cross section in the ENDF/B-VII library should be 21% to 35% lower For these reasons, inelastic scattering on 56Fe was included in the High Priority Request List (HPRL) of the OECD-NEA Data Bank for nuclear data measurements [4]. The uncertainties on elastic scattering should be consistently lowered too [1], and the neutron angular distributions are an item on the INDEN (International Nuclear Data Evaluation Network) high-priority list [5]. The objective of this work is to provide new highresolution data for the scattering differential cross section of iron in the fast neutron energy range of interest for fission technologies (1 to 6 MeV). Those higher than 847 keV but lower than the second level at 2085 keV (the first level of 54Fe at 1408 keV and the 57Fe levels from 1007 to 1991 keV) distort the determination of the inelastic scattering cross section of 56Fe
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