Light Nuclei Evaluation by Resonance Neutron Reactions

Abstract

It is well known that for light nuclei, by slow neutron capture, radionuclides are not produced and therefore their determination by INAA is not possible. Then for evaluation of their properties, it could be better to combine a few neutron reactions in neutron transmission experiments (methods), depending on the value of the cross-sections of selected types of reactions. One S-resonance was considered from each element in the sample composed of only five medium and heavy elements and one trace light element. Results on 6Li and 10B nuclei are presented and they demonstrate that the missing of one type of measurement technique could lead to errors in the data processing. Both nuclei have a very low value of capture cross-section and a very high value of (n, a) cross-section. Due to the positions of S-resonances and their reduced neutron widths, these light nuclei influence significantly the spectra and furthermore, the order of measurements can also be important.