Cross sections for the formation of long-lived radionuclides Be-10, Al-26 and Cl-36 in 14.6 MeV neutron induced reactions determined via accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)

Cross sections for the neutron induced production of the long-lived radionu clides Be-10 (from carbon), Al-26 (from aluminium) and Cl-36 (from potassiu m) were determined, and upper limits for the formation of Be-10 from nitrog en and oxygen were estimated. Target samples were irradiated with 14.6 +/- 0.2 MeV neutrons in Debrecen, Hungary. After radiochemical separations and preparation of suitable samples at Koln, Germany, the above mentioned long- lived radionuclides were measured via ultrasensitive accelerator mass spect rometry (AMS) in Zurich, Switzerland. Our cross section value for the Al-27 (n,2n)Al-26 reaction is within the range of the reported AMS data. For the other two reactions, viz. C-13(n,alpha)Be-10 and K-39(n,alpha)Cl-36, our wo rk describes the first results obtained via measurement of the product nucl ides. The experimental results for all the three investigated reactions fal l within the range of values obtained from semi-empirical systematics descr ibed in the literature.