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News article9 March 2018

Evaluation of cross sections for neutron interactions with 238U

Experimental set-up for capture measurements at the Joint Research
© JRC European Commission

A paper describing a new evaluation of cross sections for neutron interactions with 238U was selected by Europhysics News as a nuclear physics highlight from papers published in European Journals.

Evaluated nuclear data represent the bridge between experimental and theoretical achievements and final user applications. The complex evolution from experimental data towards final data libraries forms the cornerstone of any evaluation process. Since more than 90% of the fuel in most nuclear power reactors consists of 238U, the respective neutron induced cross sections are of primary importance towards accurate neutron transport calculations. Despite this significance, the relevant experimental data for the 238U(n,γ) capture reaction have only recently provided for a consistent description of the resonance region.

The work, which was published in Eur. Phys. J. A in 2017, resulted in a cross sections for 238U with uncertainties of less than 1% fulfilling the requirements on the High Priority Request List maintained by the OECD-NEA. This low uncertainty was achieved due to high quality experimental data obtained at the GELINA facility operated by JRC.G at Geel (Belgium). More

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Publication date
9 March 2018