Measurement of 14.54 ± 0.24 MeV neutron activation reaction cross sections of ⁹³Nb, ^natMo with covariance analysis

The ⁹³Nb(n,α)^90mY, ⁹³Nb(n,2n)^92mNb and ⁹²Mo(n,p)^92mNb reaction cross sections have been measured relative to the ¹⁹⁷Au(n,2n)¹⁹⁶Au monitor reaction at the neutron energy of 14.54 ± 0.24 MeV. The neutrons were generated from the T(d,n)⁴He reaction using Purnima neutron generator. The experiment was done by using the method of activation in combination with an off-line γ-ray spectrometry technique. The uncertainties and correlations for the reaction cross sections were estimated with the use of covariance analysis by considering the partial uncertainties in individual attributes. The measured reaction cross sections have been analyzed by comparing with the data available in EXFOR compilation, various files of evaluated data and theoretically calculated values from TALYS-1.9. (author)