Measurement of the Uranium-238 Capture Cross Section for Incident Neutron Energies up to 100 keV

Abstract

The neutron capture cross section of 238U was measured for incident neutron energies between 5 eV and 100 keV using a pulsed electron Linac neutron source and the time-of-flight technique. Capture gamma rays were detected by a large liquid scintillator located on a 40-m flight path. The incident neutron flux was monitored by a 10BF3 ionization chamber. The cross section was normalized by the saturated resonance technique.The data have uncertainties which increase from ∼5% at 1 keV to 10% at 100 keV. These data are compared with results from other measurements and with various evaluations.