Neutron Capture and Transmission Measurements of 54Fe at the RPI LINAC

Abstract

54Fe radiative capture cross section and transmission measurements were conducted at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Gaerttner Linear Accelerator (LINAC) Center using an enriched 54Fe sample in the keV energy region. 54Fe is a constituent of natural iron, which is present in a large variety of nuclear grade materials. Therefore, it is important to have an accurate understanding of the cross sections of 54Fe, which can be measured experimentally. In the time-of-flight measurements conducted at the LINAC, an array of four C6D6 detectors surrounded the sample and radiative capture data were collected using a digital data acquisition system. Additionally, a Li-glass detector was used to collect transmission data using an analog data acquisition system. The radiative capture yield of the 54Fe measurements were normalized to saturated resonances observed in Au and Ta to obtain an absolute capture yield. The preliminary capture yield and preliminary transmission obtained can be compared to evaluations and existing experimental data. Some disagreements were observed in prominent d-wave capture resonances observed in 54Fe in the low-keV neutron energy region. Both sets of experimental data along with pre-existing datasets will greatly enhance RPI’s ability to perform resonance evaluation for 54Fe up to roughly 1 MeV.