Measurements of neutron capture cross-sections for nuclides of interest in decommissioning: ⁴⁵Sc, ⁶³Cu, ⁶⁴Zn, ¹⁰⁹Ag, and ¹¹³In

ABSTRACT

As nuclear facilities are dismantled in decommissioning, various and large amounts of waste are generated. Even more inconveniently, they are radioactive waste due to neutron activation. Thus, the neutron capture cross-sections of nuclides targeted for decommissioning are required to evaluate the radioactivity produced. The present study selected ⁴⁵Sc, ⁶³Cu, ⁶⁴Zn, ¹⁰⁹Ag and ¹¹³In among targeted nuclides, and performed the measurements of thermal-neutron capture cross-sections by an activation method at the Kyoto University Research Reactor. The thermal-neutron capture cross-sections were derived on the basis of Westcott’s convention. The present results were obtained as follows: 27.18 ± 0.28 barn for ⁴⁵Sc(n,γ)⁴⁶Sc, 4.34 ± 0.06 barn for ⁶³Cu(n,γ)⁶⁴Cu, 0.719 ± 0.011 barn for ⁶⁴Zn(n,γ)⁶⁵Zn, 4.05 ± 0.05 barn for ¹⁰⁹Ag(n,γ)^110mAg and 8.53 ± 0.27 barn for ¹¹³In(n,γ)¹¹⁴In^m1+m2 reactions. The results for ⁴⁵Sc and ⁶⁴Zn support evaluated cross-section data within the limits of uncertainties, while those for the other nuclides were slightly different from evaluated ones. The obtained results are useful not only for the evaluation of isotope production, but also for the consideration of those nuclides as flux monitors, as an alternative to Au and Co.

KEYWORDS:

• ⁴⁵Sc
• ⁶³Cu
• ⁶⁴Zn
• ¹⁰⁹Ag
• ¹¹³In
• decommissioning
• thermal-neuron capture cross-section
• activation method
• Kyoto university research reactor

Acknowledgments

This work has been carried out under the Visiting Researcher’s Program of the Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University; the adoption number was R4P8-4. The authors would like to appreciate the staff of Kyoto University for their support: Prof. Jun-ichi HORI, Dr. Yuichi OKI, Yuto IINUMA, Hisao YOSHINAGA and Ryo OKUMURA. One of the authors (S.N.) would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Osamu IWAMOTO and Dr. Hiroyuki YOSHIDA of JAEA for their constructive comments, and to Dr. James SMALLCOMBE of JAEA for careful English proofreading.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.