Measurement of the thermal neutron capture cross section and the resonance integral of the 90Sr(n, γ)91Sr reaction

The thermal neutron capture cross section (sigma(0)) and the resonance integral (I-0) of the Sr-90(n, gamma)Sr-91 reaction were measured with an activation method to provide fundamental data for research on nuclear transmutation methods of radioactive wastes. Strontium chloride containing 3.7 x 10(2) kBq of Sr-90 was irradiated for 10 h in the hydraulic transfer tube facility of Kyoto University Reactor. Flux monitor wires, CO/Al and Au/Al alloy wires, were irradiated together with the targets to determine the neutron flux and the fraction of epithermal component (Westcott's index) at the target position. A high purity Ge detector was used to measure the gamma rays from the irradiated targets and monitor wires. The sigma(0) was obtained as 10.1 +/- 1.3 mb, and I-0 as 104 +/- 16 mb.