Neutron capture and total cross-section measurements and resonance parameter analysis of zirconium up to 2.5 keV

Neutron capture and transmission measurements were performed by the time-of-flight tech- nique at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute LINAC using metallic zirconium samples. The capture mea- surement was made at the 25-m flight station with a multiplicity-type capture detector, and the transmission total cross-section measurements were performed at the 25-m flight station with a 6 Li glass scintillation detector. Resonance parameters were determined by a combined analysis of all 11 data sets (4 capture and 7 transmission) using the least-squares multilevel R-matrix code REFIT. The present measurements were undertaken to resolve discrepancies between common usage (ENDF/ B-VI) and the recent measurements of Salah et al. for the 300-eV zirconium doublet. The present measure- ments support the Salah et al. conclusions. Specifically, the results confirm the assignment of J 3 for the 91 Zr 292.5-eV resonance and include all significant resonances up to 2.5 keV. The zirconium reso- nance parametersGg and Gn, determined in the present measurement, are compared with the ENDF/B-VI parameters.