Radionuclide Production from Lead by Neutron-Induced Reactions up to 175 MeV

Abstract

Activation experiments with quasi mono-energetic neutrons produced by the ⁷Li(p, n)⁷Be reaction with proton-energies between 36.4 and 178.8 MeV were performed at UCL and TSL in order to determine cross sections for the production of residual nuclides from 13 target elements. The targets were irradiated in well-characterized neutron fields monitored by various measuring techniques. Residual nuclide abundances were determined by γ-spectrometry. Cross sections were derived from them by an iterative method based on measured and calculated neutron spectra inside the target stacks and starting from “guess” excitation functions calculated by the ALICE-IPPE code. First results for the target element lead are presented.

Keywords:

• neutron-induced reactions
• residual nuclide production
• cross sections