Measurement 232Th(n, γ) cross-section at neutron energy of 13.5 and 15.5 MeV using neutron activation techniques

The neutron interactions and fission cross sections for 232Th and 233U in the low neutron energy are important for advanced heavy water reactor AHWR, whereas in the higher energy range are important for Accelerator Driven Sub-critical system (ADS) because they dominate the neutron transport and neutron regeneration. Therefore, precise nuclear reaction cross data are important for the nuclear and shielding design of AHWR and ADS based transmutation system. A careful look at the nuclear cross section data, present in the existing cross section libraries shows that, no cross section data are available beyond neutron energy of 2.7 MeV except few data. New measurements at these energy points require urgent attention. Keeping this in mind, it is important to measure the 232Th(n, γ) and (n, xn) reaction cross-sections besides yields of fission products at higher neutron energy. In view of this, in the present work we have determined the 232Th(n, γ) reaction cross-section at average neutron energy of 13.5, 15.5 MeV for the first time using activation and off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique