Incineration of Am-241 induced by thermal neutrons

摘要

An experimental study of the Am-241 incineration in a high-intensity thermal neutron flux was carried out at the high-flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble. The combination of nuclear gamma -ray spectroscopy and off-line mass spectrometry methods made possible the measurement of several parameters of the transmutation chain and the first experimental determination of the unknown Am-242gs thermal neutron capture cross section, which plays an essential role in the Am-241 incineration process. During a 19 days irradiation in a thermal neutron flux of 5.6 x 10(14) n/ (s cm(2)), (46 +/- 5)% of the initial Am-241 was transmuted by neutron capture of which (22 +/- 8)% was incinerated by nuclear fission. A value of the thermal neutron cross section of Am-242gs(n, gamma) of (330 +/- 50) barns was obtained. We show that this keeps the option open to incinerate Am-241 by high-intensity moderated neutron fluxes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. [References: 23]