Measurement of the 241Am(n,2n)240Am cross section at 17.5 MeV

Abstract

The 241Am(n,2n)240Am reaction cross section has been measured at neutron beam energy 17.5 MeV, relative to the 27Al(n,α)24Na, 197Au(n,2n)196Au and 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb reference reaction cross sections, using the activation technique. The irradiation was carried out at the Van der Graaff 5.5 MV Tandem accelerator laboratory of NCSR “Demokritos” with monoenergetic neutron beam provided by means of the 3H(d,n)4He reaction, implementing a new Ti-tritiated target. The high purity Am target has been constructed at IRMM, Geel, Belgium and consisted of 40 mg 241Am in the form of AmO2 pressed into pellet with Al2O3 and encapsulated into Al container. Due to this high radioactivity (5 GBq), the Am target was enclosed in a Pb container for safety reasons. After the end of the irradiation, the activity induced by the neutron beam at the target and reference foils, was measured off-line by two 100%, a 50% and a 16% relative efficiency, HPGe detectors.