Neutron cross section measurements of elemental molybdenum and resonance parameter analysis

The purpose of this work was to measure the neutron cross sections of molybdenum accurately. The Rensselaer Polytechnic (RPI) LINAC facility was used to measure the neutron interaction cross sections of molybdenum. Neutron capture time-of-flight measurements were made at 25m with a sodium iodide multiplicity detector. Transmission measurements were performed at 25m flight with a 6 Li glass scintillation detector. Nine different thicknesses of elemental molybdenum metal samples ranging from 0.051mm (0.002in.) to 6.35mm (0.250in.) were measured in either capture or transmission. Data from two transmission and one capture measurement have been analyzed using the multilevel R-matrix Bayesian code SAMMY. Throughout the energy spectrum, 10- 2000eV, resonance widths have been attained. Between one and two keV, the width assignments of overlapping resonances were obtained and compared to ENDF/B-VII.0. ENDF/B-VII.0 nuclear radii fit the transmission data between resonances better than those of ENDF/B-VI.8. Below 600eV, the inclusion of capture data in the fit enhanced our ability to determine radiation widths compared to using transmission data alone.