Activation of stainless steel with high energy neutrons

The development of the next generations of nuclear reactors (accelerator dr iven systems, ADS, or controlled fusion reactors) needs an important databa se of cross-sections for various nuclear reactions with high energy neutron s. At the cyclotron of Louvain-la-Neuve, a neutron beam has been developed on the base of a Be-9(d,n)B-10 reaction. The energy spectrum of the neutron beam is centered on 20 MeV. By using this tool, the activation of iron, ch romium and nickel sheets has been measured, and the cross-section of variou s reactions has been calculated. Some of those cross-sections were availabl e in the literature, and the comparison with our results shows the effect o f delayed nucleon emission. The evaluation of the production rate of variou s isotopes, as well as the energy and relative intensity of their transitio ns, is very important to evaluate the activation of most stainless steels. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.