An Am/Be neutron source and its use in integral tests of differential neutron reaction cross-section data

An Am/Be neutron source, installed recently at the Rajshahi University, is described. Neutron flux mapping was done using the nuclear reactions 197Au(n,γ)198Au, 113In(n,γ)114mIn, 115In(n,n′γ)115mIn and 58Ni(n,p)58Co. An approximate validation of the neutron spectral shape was done using five neutron threshold detectors and the iterative unfolding code SULSA. Integral cross sections of the reactions 54Fe(n,p)54Mn, 59Co(n,p)59Fe and 92Mo(n,p)92mNb were measured with fast neutrons (En>1.5 MeV) and compared with data calculated using the neutron spectral distribution and the excitation function of each reaction given in data libraries: an agreement within±6% was found.