Cross section measurements for (n,2n), (n,α), and (n,p) reactions on rhenium isotopes around 14 MeV neutrons and their theoretical calculations of excitation functions* *Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11605099, 11575090)

Abstract

Cross-section data of the 185Re(n,2n)184mRe, 185Re(n,2n)184gRe, 185Re(n,α)182m1+m2+gTa, 187Re(n, 2n)186g,(m)Re, 187Re(n,α)184Ta, and 187Re(n,p)187W reactions were measured at four neutron energies, namely 13.5, 14.1, 14.4, and 14.8 MeV, by means of the activation technique, relative to the reference cross-section values of the 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb reaction. The neutrons were generated from the T(d,n)4He reaction at the K-400 Neutron Generator at China Academy of Engineering Physics. The induced γ activities were measured using a high-resolution γ-ray spectrometer equipped with a coaxial high-purity germanium detector. The excitation functions of the six above-mentioned nuclear reactions at neutron energies from the threshold to 20 MeV were calculated by adopting the nuclear theoretical model program system Talys-1.9 with the relevant parameters properly adjusted. The measured cross sections were analyzed and compared with previous experiments conducted by other researchers, and with the evaluated data of BROND-3.1, ENDF/B-VIII.0, JEFF-3.3, and the theoretical values based on Talys-1.9. The new measured results agree with those of previous experiments and the theoretical excitation curve at the corresponding energies. The theoretical excitation curves based on Talys-1.9 generally match most of experimental data well.