Abstract
Accurate isotopic molybdenum nuclear data are important because molybdenum can exist in nuclear reactor components including fuel, cladding, or as a high yield fission product. High-resolution time-of-flight neutron transmission measurements on highly enriched isotopic metallic samples of Mo-95, Mo-96, Mo-98, and Mo-100 were performed in the resonance energy range from 1 to 620 keV. The measurements were taken with the newly developed modular Li-6-glass transmission detector positioned at the 100-m experimental flight station. In the unresolved energy region (URR), new comprehensive methods of analysis were developed and validated in order to obtain accurate neutron total cross-section data from the measurement by correcting for background and transmission enhancement effects. Average parameters and fits to the total cross section for 95Mo were obtained using the Hauser-Feshbach statistical model code FITACS, which is currently incorporated into the SAMMY code. The fits to the experimental data deviate from the current evaluated nuclear data file/B-VII.1 isotopic Mo evaluations by several percent in the URR.
