Correction of the thermal neutron capture cross section of Am obtained by the Westcott convention

Mizuyama, Kazuhito; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki  ; Iwamoto, Osamu  

There is large discrepancy among the reported experimental data of the thermal neutron capture cross section of Am. The activation measurements provided larger cross sections than those in the time-of-flight (TOF) ones. The Westcott convention has been widely used for the derivation of the thermal neutron capture cross section in the activation measurements. The large discrepancy may be due to the existence of the resonances below the cadmium cut-off energy (E 0.5 eV). By reviewing the Westcott convention, we developed the correction method taking account of the contribution of the resonances near or below . The correction term was evaluated using the JENDL-4.0. Application of the present method successfully improved the existing discrepancy of the thermal capture cross section of Am.