Measurements of neutron capture cross-sections for nuclides of interest in decommissioning (IV); Ho(n,)Ho reactions

Nakamura, Shoji  ; Shibahara, Yuji*; Endo, Shunsuke   ; Rovira Leveroni, G.  ; Kimura, Atsushi   

During the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, large amounts of radioactive wastes are generated from structural materials. When considering the disposal or reuse of such wastes, accurate neutron capture cross-sections are required to evaluate the amounts of radioactive nuclides among the wastes. The present work selected Ho among nuclides included in the list for clearance levels in decommissioning, and measured the thermal-neutron capture cross-sections for the Ho(n,)Ho, Ho reactions by the neutron activation method. The thermal cross-section measurements were performed with the graphite thermal column of the Kyoto University Research Reactor under the 5-MW operation and the thermal-neutron capture cross-sections were derived on the basis of Westcott's convention. In this work, a value of 2.790.04 barn was obtained for the Ho(n,)Ho reaction, and 61.20.6 barn for the Ho(n,)Ho reaction. The combination of these cross-sections presented 64.00.6 barn, which supports the recent evaluated data of 64.69 barn and 64.41.2 barn within the limit of uncertainties.