Measurement of 23Na(n,2n) cross section in well-defined reactor spectra

Abstract The present paper aims to compare the calculated and experimental reaction rates of 23 Na(n,2n) 22 Na in a well-defined reactor spectra of a special core assembled in the LR-0 reactor. The experimentally determined reaction rate, derived using gamma spectroscopy of irradiated NaF sample, is used for average cross section determination. The resulting value averaged in spectra is 0.91±0.02 µb. This cross-section is important as it is included in International Reactor Dosimetry and Fusion File and is also relevant to the correct estimation of long-term activity of Na coolant in Sodium Fast Reactors. The calculations were performed with the MCNP6 code using ENDF/B-VII.0, JEFF-3.1, JEFF-3.2, JENDL-3.3, JENDL-4, ROSFOND-2010 and CENDL-3.1 nuclear data libraries. Generally the best C/E agreement, within 2%, was found using the ROSFOND-2010 data set, whereas the worst, as high as 40%, was found using the ENDF/B-VII.0.