Production of long-lived 26Al and 24Na from neutron interaction in Al target

Precise estimate of radionuclide production in neutron induced reaction is important in the latest state-of-the art nuclear technology of Accelerator Driven Sub-critical Systems (ADSS). Deman of efficient running, optimized output and ensuring personnel safety in an ADSS have boosted the study of high energy neutron induced nuclide production, while target design and other logistic studies have revived interest in the study of same system at lower energies. In this paper we report the production cross section and yield of radionuclides formed in thick aluminum target by neutron induced reactions at 20 MeV and 100 MeV projectile energy. 27Al is a common element found in accelerator facility and this study provides data for radioactive waste generation for ADSS operation as well as radiotoxicity production in target studies. We have calculated the source term for production of nuclides in (n,2n), (n,α) reactions in the framework of nuclear reaction model codes ALICE, EMPIRE and TALYS, and estimated the total yield. Our calculated results are compared with experimental data wherever available. Our analysis shows that production of the long-lived 26Al is well predicted by EMPIRE and TALYS while ALICE largely underpredicts the data in the energy range of 1-20 MeV. (author)