A new study on (n, p) cross sections in nuclear interactions of neutrons with dysprosium

Abstract

Neutron-induced nuclear reaction cross section data on dysprosium (Dy) target material are needed for the development and design of reactors, because of using Dy such as an absorbing material for the control rods in reactors. Furthermore, these data are important in terms of improving the definition of neutron-particle interaction. In this framework, the excitation functions of Dy-156,Dy-158,Dy-160-164(n, p)Tb-156,Tb-158,Tb-160-164 reactions were theoretically calculated using TALYS 1.8 and EMPIRE 3.2 Malta nuclear reaction codes. In addition, effects of different level density models on the reaction cross sections were also investigated. Therefore, the obtained theoretical cross sections are compared with the experimental cross sections found in the literature. Besides, (n, p) cross section systematics, which was proposed in our previous article and in the literature, has been used for obtaining the reaction cross sections at energies of around 14 MeV.