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Published: 1980

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The actinide cross section program at ORELA, the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator, is aimed at obtaining accurate neutron cross sections (primarily fission, capture, and total) for actinide nuclides which occur in fission reactors. Such cross sections, measured as a function of neutron energy over as wide a range of energies as feasible, comprise a data base that permits calculated predictions of the formation and removal of these nuclides in reactors. The present program is funded by the Division of Basic Energy Sciences of DOE, and has components in several divisions at ORNL. For intensively .cap alpha.-active nuclides, many of the existing fission cross section data have been provided by underground explosions. New measurement techniques, developed at ORELA, now permit linac measurements on fissionable nuclides with alpha half-lives as short as 28 years. Capture and capture-plus-fission measurements utilize scintillation detectors (of capture .gamma. rays and fission neutrons) in which pulse shape discrimination plays an important role. Total cross sections can be measured at ORELA on samples of only a few milligrams. A simultaneous program of chemical and isotopic analyses of samples irradiated in EBR-II is in progress to provide benchmarks for the existing differential measurements. These analyses are being studied with updated versions of ORIGEN and with sensitivity determinations. Calculations of the sensitivity to cross section changes of various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle are also being made. Even in this relatively mature field, many cross sections still require improvements to provide an adequate data base. Examples of recent techniques and measurements are presented. 12 figures, 3 tables.