Speaker
Description
Accurate neutron production cross sections are essential for the design and operation of accelerator-based neutron sources, as they directly affect predictions of neutron yield, energy spectra, and shielding performance.
In this study, neutron production cross sections for the p-Li reaction contained in two major nuclear data libraries, ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JENDL-5, were comparatively evaluated, because lithium is one of the most widely used target materials for accelerator-based neutron source. Significant discrepancies were identified between the two libraries for proton energies above 10 MeV. The differences were found to originate primarily from the treatment of reaction channels contributing to neutron production. Consequently, noticeable discrepancies were observed in both the shape and absolute values of the neutron production cross sections.
Although JENDL-5 showed better consistency than ENDF/B-VIII.0, further validation against experimental data is required for both libraries. Benchmark analyses using p-Li neutron production experiments at the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and at CYRIC, Tohoku University, indicate that JENDL-5 reproduces the measured neutron spectra more reasonably than ENDF/B-VIII.0. Nevertheless, noticeable discrepancies in peak energy and neutron yield remain, highlighting the need for further improvement and validation of the evaluated nuclear data.
| Topics | T4. Shielding and dosimetry |
|---|