The total cross section and resonance parameters for the 0.178 eV resonance of 113Cd

Abstract

It has been suggested that the capture and scattering cross sections of natural cadmium are not well described by the resonance parameters that are given in the evaluated data files. In particular, doubts on the parameters of the first resonance of 113 Cd at 0.178 eV have been raised. This resonance is of high importance in the interpretation in many integral experiments, such as neutron activation analysis, in which cadmium foils are used to shield from thermal neutrons. A new set of experiments has been designed and performed at the neutron time-of-flight facility GELINA, to determine the total cross section and to extract a set of resonance parameters. The covariance information of the experimental data is propagated and the correlation between the resonance parameters is derived. The obtained parameters are then compared to the data available in the literature. Finally a set of criticality experiments from the international handbook of evaluated critical safety benchmark experiments is used to quantify the influence of the change in the resonance parameters.