THERMAL NEUTRON CROSS SECTIONS AND RESONANCE INTEGRALS OF THE REACTIONS O17(n,α)C14, Ar36(n,α)S33, AND N14(n,p)C14

Abstract

The thermal neutron cross sections of the exothermic reactions O17(n,α)C14, Ar36(n,α)S33, and N14(n,p)C14 have been measured, relative to the activation cross section of gold, by using a pulse ionization chamber technique. The results obtained are 0.235 ± 0.005 barn, 5.52 ± 0.11 millibarns, and 1.83 ± 0.03 barns respectively. All the reactions were shown to have the same cadmium ratio as the B10(n,α)Li7 reaction with accuracies of ±10%, ±40%, and ±3% respectively. The O17 result shows that capture in this nuclide contributes significantly to neutron absorption in heavy water.