PAKISTAN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES

FUNDAMENTALS OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

(Lecture Set 1 )
NEUTRONS, NEUTRON CROSS-SECTION AND ITS ENERGY DEPENDENCE

31.01.2015

THE NEUTRON:
Neutrons play a fundamental role in initiating nuclear reactions. Having an uncharged nature, they remain unaffected by
the coulomb barrier and even a very low energy neutron can penetrate the nucleus and initiate nuclear reaction. But the
same nature makes their detection difficult as they produce little ionization when they pass through matter and they are
not deflected by electric or magnetic field. Due to these facts the discovery of neutron was an important milestone in the
nuclear sciences that afterward lead to the concept of nuclear reactors to harness the tremendous amount of nuclear
energy for power production.
In 1930, two German physicists, W. Bothe and H. Becker, observed that when beryllium, boron or lithium was
bombarded by alpha particles from radioactive polonium, the target material emitted a radiation that had much greater
penetrating power than the original alpha particle. A special reaction type studied by Bothe and Becker was

Polonium
alpha emitter
source

Beryllium
Target

High Energy
non-ionizing and
penetrating
radiation

Bothe and Becker assumed this highly penetrating and non-ionizing product as high-energy gamma rays. Soon after
Curie and Joliot noticed that when these radiation fell on paraffin, an energetic proton was emitted. From the range of
these protons, they determined their energy to be 5.3 MeV. If radiation under study were indeed gamma rays, protons
could be knocked loose from paraffin by a Compton-like collision; from the Compton Scattering formula, they
computed that the energy of this Bothe and Becker termed gamma radiation would be at least 52 MeV to release such
protons. An emitted gamma ray of such energy seemed extremely unlikely. Experiments by James Chadwick in 1932
showed that the emitted particles were electrically neutral with mass approximately equal to that of proton. Thus in an
head-on collision, a 5.3 MeV neutral particle could transfer its energy entirely to struck proton. Chadwick christened
these neutral highly penetrating particles as neutrons and he is generally credited with being the discoverer of the
neutrons.
NEUTRON CATEGORIZATION BASED ON ENERGY CLASSIFICATION:
Neutrons of variety of energies are available in an operating nuclear reactor or from various nuclear sources. The
neutron in different energy groups behave in different manner. They may be categorized into three groups according to
their energies:
( E 0.0253 eV)

1.

Thermal neutrons

2.

Resonance neutrons ( from fraction of eV to thousands of eV)

3.

Fast neutrons

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(ranging from neutrons E 100, 000 eV to even greater than 20,000,000 eV)

Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan

THE NEUTRON SOURCES:

Beams of neutrons can be produced from a variety of nuclear reactions. Obviously neutrons cannot be accelerated like
charged particles, therefore, to start with, high-energy neutrons may be obtained and their energy can be reduced
through collisions with atoms of various materials. The process of slowing down fast neutrons is called moderation.
For practical applications, a neutron source must have a half-life of at least several years. It must also be intense (greater
than 105 n/s ) and free from other radiations such as beta particles and gamma rays.
Neutron Sources may be of (, n) type, spontaneous fission type, or photo-neutrons (, n) type. On the other hand they
may be produced by accelerators and nuclear reactors. Depending upon their composition, these neutron sources have
different neutron energy spectrum, different neutron yield and different half-lives. These may have some additional
gamma radiation of different energies and intensities ( emitter dependent).
The alpha neutron (, n) sources
The most familiar (, n) type sources are Ra-Be, Po-Be and Pu-Be. These all have similar spectrum with an average
energy of about 3-5 MeV, with a yield of approximately 1.5 x 10 7 n/sec per gram of radium whereas half life is about
19.4 years. This source has relatively more gamma rays emission associated with it. Po-Be source has the lowest
gamma emission, but its half life of 138 days is rather short. On the other hand Pu-Be source may not be used for
reactor start up as Pu-239 is a fissile material.
The Photo-neutron (, n) sources
Photo-neutron sources (, n) again have a high gamma background, these are larger than (, n) sources and have
relatively low yield and half lives. There advantage lies in the production of mono-energetic neutrons with an energy
below 1 MeV. For low neutron energies Sb-Be ( , n) sources, which generate neutrons of 0.025 MeV, are often used in
calibration. The antimony beryllium carbide source is also commonly used for power plant reactor start up.
The spontaneous fission sources
More recently 252Cf (Californium) has been suggested as a standard source.

252

Cf undergoes spontaneous fission with a

half life of about 2.55 years and has a fission spectrum similar to U-235. The neutron yield may be determined
indirectly from the activity of the fission product and the average number of neutrons per fission reaction (about 3.8) .
Because of the high energy yield (2.5 x 106 n/sec per microgram of

252

Cf ) it is possible to fabricate point sources.

The accelerated charged partical (p,n) or (d,n) or (T,n) sources

Protons, deutrons, and tritium atoms can be accelerated to high energies in accelerator and fast neutrons can be obtained
in high source strength.
The reactor neutrons
The fission neutrons produced in a nuclear reactor have an energy distribution ranging from few keV to approximately
20 MeV, averaging about 2MeV.

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THE CROSS SECTION FOR NEUTRON INTERACTION

The neutron interaction gives an idea that neutron goes toward a target atom rather towards its nucleus, collides with it,
either enter into it or is scattered. Now the bigger the nucleus of target atom will be, the more are the chances of neutron
to hit it. Thus chances of interaction of neutron with the target nuclei will be dependent upon the size of the nucleus in
terms of its cross sectional area.
By the word cross sectional area of a nucleus, the first thing that comes in mind is the actual size of the nucleus i.e. the
cross-sectional area of the three dimensional spherical nucleus projected on a two dimensional plane perpendicular to
the direction of propagation of incident neutron. In order to determine this actual area a thin sheet of a pure material
may be considered having a thickness dx such that only a single layer of atoms are present in this sheet and the nuclei
do not shadow each other [figure 2.1]. The material is assumed to have an atom density N atoms per unit volume of the
sheet.

Figure: 2.1 Determination of cross section

Let each nucleus has an actual cross-sectional area .

(net area of all the nuclei present in the area dA of the sheet of thicknessdx)
.
(Area occupied by all the atoms in that target area where neutrons are incident i.e. dA)

Interaction probability =

Interaction probability =

Interaction probability=

(number of atoms present in the area dA)( actual cross-sectional area of nucleus)
(Area occupied by all the atoms in that target area where neutrons are incident)

[ (atoms present per unit volume)( volume occupied by incident area)] [

[ incident area i.e. dA ]

Interaction probability =

[ (atom density)( volume occupied by incident area)] [

[ dA ]

Interaction probability =

[(N ) (dA . dx)] [ ]

[ dA ]

Interaction probability = N . dx .
= Interaction probability
[ N . dx ]
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Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan

Which gives a mathematical definition of neutron cross section i.e. it is the interaction probability per unit atom density
per unit distance of neutron travel. The parameters on the right hand side are measurable i.e. interaction probability can
be determined by the ratio of number of neutron left uninteracted i.e. (I) to the number of neutron incident on the target
area i.e. (Io) [Figure 2.1] . Atom density and thickness of the sheet can also be determined and thus the neutron cross
section can be determined.
The observations show that there are many practical cases where the apparent area changes dramatically with the
incident neutron energy. These seemingly unphysical phenomena were attributed to the complex interaction of the
nuclear forces and particles. Nuclei can have an especially greater affinity for those neutrons that are capable of
exciting their discrete energy levels.
Thus the concept of the nuclear cross section denoted by is now based on the idea that the effective size, a nucleus
show to a neutron, should be proportional to the probability that the incident neutron would react with it. Thus neutron
cross section may now be defined as:
The effective projected cross-sectional area surrounding an actual atomic nucleus, such that a neutron passing
within this area, will definitely interact with the nucleus.
This effective projected area may be smaller or larger [figure 2.2] than the actual physical cross-section of the nucleus
depending upon the relative probability for a reaction to occur.
Real or actual cross sectional area of the nucleus

Effective area would be more than actual area, if relative probability

of the neutron to interact with nucleus is more

Effective area would be less than actual area, if relative probability

of the neutron to interact with nucleus is less

Effective cross sectional area of the nucleus

Figure: 2.2 Representation of cross section
This discussion suggested that the connotation of cross-sectional area may be dropped. Thus is merely a cross
section defined such that its product with the atom density N and distance dx is equal to the interaction probability
and hence instead of giving an exact physical sense of neutron cross sectional area it gives a measure of probability of
interaction of certain energy neutron with a specific nuclei. is more formally called microscopic neutron cross
section because it the word microscopic signifies application to describing the behavior on a nucleus-by-nucleus basis,
or actually submicroscopic basis.
The microscopic cross section depends upon factors like incident neutron energy and type of target nucleus for a
particular interaction. The defined unit is BARN which is equal to 10 24 cm2. The cross section depends upon the
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Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan

nature of the target material and energy of the bombarding neutron and the nature of its interaction. Hence depending
upon the type of interaction of neutron with the nucleus the cross-sections are categorized in various types. The values
of neutron cross section of various materials range between 10 -18 to 1027 cm2.It is applied in determination of reaction
rates, criticality studies, radiation shielding design, breeding or conversion ratio, thermal energy production and material
damage and life etc.

Figure 2.3 Examples of the dependence of cross-sections on neutron energy

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Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan

Type of Cross Sections

Elastic Scattering Cross-sectiones.
In case of elastic scattering the probability of elastic scattering of neutrons is considered and the cross section is defined
as elastic scattering cross section es. In this case kinetic energy and momentum of both remain conserved and the
kinetic energy lost by the neutron would result in increase in kinetic energy of the hit nucleus. The targeted nucleus
remains in the ground state before and after the collision. This sort of interaction is usually more common for relatively
low energy neutrons and low mass number targets. e.g.
235

U92

236

n0

U92

235

U92

n0

Inelastic Scattering Cross-sectioni.

For inelastic scattering the probability of inelastic scattering of neutrons is considered and the cross section is defined as
inelastic scattering cross section i. The kinetic energy does not remain conserved. The hit nucleus is left in excited
state. Compared to atomic excited states the energy of excited states of nuclei is considerably greater and instead of xrays, gamma ray emission takes place. Inelastic scattering cross section increases with increasing neutron energy and
increasing mass number of the target nuclei. Neutron slowing down is more rapid in inelastic scattering because neutron
energy is partially used up in excitation of target nucleus while remaining provides the kinetic energy to the struck
nucleus. e.g the same reaction above except the nucleus is left in excited state.
235

U92

n0

[236U92]*

[235U92] *

n0

Capture Cross-sectionc.
The types of neutron interaction with a target nucleus, which involves capture of neutron such that the neutron remains
inside the nucleus as a part and a real absorption of neutron occurs and resulting excited nucleus with same atomic
number has a mass one unit higher than the previous number. The excited energy of the nucleus thus formed is
equivalent to one or more gamma rays that are emitted after wards and are called capture gamma rays The capture
gamma in this case has an energy of about 6MeV ( corresponding roughly to the binding energy per nucleon for an extra
nucleon). The example of such a reaction may be:
235

U92

n0

[236U92]*

[236U92]

Activation Cross-sectionact.
The interaction similar to capture except that the reaction occurs in materials other than the fuel is known as activation
and the probability of such a reaction may be deduce by considering the activation cross section. The entire field of
activation analysis is based on producing artificial radionuclides by neutron bombardment of an unknown sample. Then
by using gamma ray information to determine the identity and quantity of each species, the composition of initial
material can be determined, often to a high degree of accuracy. The example may be taken as that of sodium:
23

Na11

[24Na11]*

n0

[24Na11]

Multiple Neutron Cross-sectionxn.

An incident neutron on capture in certain nuclei could result in emission of more than one neutron i.e. instead of
emitting gamma ray the compound nucleus may excite by emitting more than one neutron. The multiple neutron
reactions are generally endoergic. In reaction with uranium-235, a neutron above the threshold energy of about 6MeV
evolves a pair of neutrons.
235

U92

or
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233

U92

n0

n0

[234U92]*

[236U92]*

[234U92]

[232U92]

2[1n0]

2[1n0]

Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan

Fission Cross-sectionf.
Neutron after absorption in certain nuclei causes the nucleus to break up in two parts, the process is known as fission
and one of the source of energy. The fission cross section is thus a measure of the fission of the nuclei in this interaction.
The typical fission reaction of U-235 yields two fission-fragment nuclei plus several gamma and neutrons. The reaction
may be given as
233

U92

n0

[234U92]*

F1 +

F2 +

x[1n0] + 00

Charged Particle Cross-section(n,p) or (n,d), or (n,).

Neutron on absorption in some nuclei may result in emission of various charged particles like proton, deuteron or alpha
particle etc. Although it is not common to U-235, there are many neutron-initiated reactions that produce light charged
particles. An important example is the reaction with boron in which boron-10 is converted to lithium-7 plus an alpha
particle. On the basis of this reaction, boron is often used as a poison or reactor control material for removing neutron
when it is desired to shut down the fission chain reaction.
4
B5
+ 1n0
[11B5]* 7Li3 +
2
Other neutron induced reaction may yield protons or deuterons. Multiple charged particle emissions, possibly
10

accompanied by neutrons(s) and/or gamma(s), have also been observed.

Absorption Cross-sectiona.
The overall cross-section which is the summation of all above mentioned capture or activation cross section, charged
particle, multiple neutron production, as well as fission cross section except the scattering ones are altogether termed as
absorption cross section.
Total Cross-sectiont.

a = [ c + (n,p) or (n,d), or (n,) + (n,xn) ] + [f ]

The summation of all possible interactions of neutron is known as total cross section i.e. all types of absorption cross
sections and all scattering cross section are considered in it

t = [ a] + [s ]
A subset-tree diagram is given in figure 2.4 and a schematic categorization of various types of cross section is given in
figure 2.5.

Figure 2.4 Different types of neutron cross sections (Knief, pp-49)

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Figure 2.5 Different types of neutron interactions

ENERGY DEPENDENCE OF NEUTRON CROSS SECTION

As mentioned previously (and indicated in figure 2.3), the cross section depends upon main factors like the energy of
incident particle and the nature of target nuclei. The cross section vs energy plot for different material may be entirely
different which indicated the dependence of cross section on the type and nature of target material. However, some
features of these -vs-E plots are common. For instance the case of uranium-235 may be considered in detail as it is the
most important material in reactor physics. The close study of energy dependence of its absorption cross section reveals
the existence of three major regions [Figure 2.6].
1.

Thermal region (low energy or 1/V region)

2.

Resonance region (epithermal region)

3.

Fast neutron region

In general in each three neutron energy ranges a certain pattern exists that may be used to estimate the value of cross
sections.
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THERMAL REGION

RESONANCE REGION

FAST REGION

Figure: 2.6 A sketch of microscopic fission/absorption cross section and total cross section for fissile 235U92 .
Thermal region:
The plot shows a straight line on a log-log scale with a slop of 0.5 in the range of 0.0001eV to about 1 eV. Using the
straight line equation:
y = m

x +

ln (a ) = -0.5 ln(E) + ln ( C )
ln (a ) = ln ( C ) - 0.5 ln(E)
ln (a ) = ln ( C ) - ln (E)0.5
ln (a ) = ln [( C ) / (E)0.5 ]
(a ) = [( C ) / (E)0.5 ]
a 1 / (E)0.5
Thus in the low energy range, the microscopic absorption cross section is inversely proportional to the square root of the
neutron energy. As temperature is proportional to the kinetic energy therefore same relation also exist for temperature.
Based on the expression of kinetic energy, it can be observed that energy is proportional to square of the velocity there
for there would be a simple inverse relationship of cross section with velocity. Greater (a) at lower (E) indicates that
at low energy or velocity there would be a greater probability of absorption of neutrons. This may be explained by the
fact that among neutrons passing close to a given nucleus, the slower ones spend more time near the nucleus and
experience the nuclear forces for a greater period of time. The absorption probability, then, tends to vary inversely as the
neutron speed and, thus, give ruse to the 1/v behavior. Hence we can write a continuity type equation of cross section for
energy, temperature and velocity as below:
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Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan

ENERGY

TEMPERATURE

VELOCITY

a 1 / (E)0.5

Similarly for

same for velocity

[a ] = Constant / (E)0.5

a 1 / (T)0.5

a 1 / (v)

we get

we get

[a ]1 (T1)0.5=[a ]2 (T2)0.5

[a ]1 (v1) =[a ]2 (v2)

[a ] (E)0.5= Constant
0.5

[a ]1 (E1) =[a ]2 (E2)

0.5

The above inverse relation hides in it a very important fact regarding an in built and inherent safety feature of this
thermal region concerning the operation of a power reactor. It indicates that if due to some reason power level increases
in an uncontrolled fashion it results in an increase in temperature which in turn increases the thermal vibrations and thus
the energy of the system. As the above inverse relations imply that due to this increase in energy or temperature of the
system, the cross section will decrease resulting in decreased probability of fission (f contributes the major part of
absorption cross section (a ) for U-235) will decrease and rate or nuclear reaction is resulting in decreased energy
production which is a safety feature. This is why approximately all the power reactors operating today are thermal
reactors, working in low energy (1/v) by slowing down the fast fission neutrons to this thermal energy region. This is
done by the process of moderation i.e. when neutrons are emitted, they have an energy of 2MeV and are in fast energy
range. When a moderator medium is provided between the fuel rods then due to multiple collisions with moderator
nuclei the fast neutrons loose the energy and thus they are brought to energy range of 1/v region causing more fission.
Resonance region:
The absorption cross section rises sharply to fairly high values for certain neutron energies resulting in sharp peaks. The
very high, narrow peaks in this region are a result of the nucleuss affinity for neutrons whose energies closely match its
discrete, quantum energy levels. Due to this matching of neutron energy and quantum energy levels, these absorption
peaks are called resonance peaks.
According to nuclear shell model, an atomic nucleus can be stable only when its
energy corresponds to that of a particular quantum state. Every nucleus has
several such states, the lowest being the stable or ground state, whereas the
others are various excited quantum states or energy levels. For small excitation
energies, as are of interest here, the quantum levels are fairly widely spaced and
distinct; at high energies the spacing becomes very much closer and the quantum
states are virtually continuos. When a nucleus captures a neutron and the energy
of the resulting compound nucleus is equal or very close to one of the quantum
states of the nucleus, the probability of capture is exceptionally high which
explains the resonance absorption with its associated large capture cross section.

Figure 2.7 Formation of excited compound

nucleus and quantum energy levels

Figure 2.7 Illustrates the resonance effect. The lines at the right indicate schematically the (virtual) quantum levels of
the compound nucleus. The lines marked Eo, at the left, represents the energy of the compound nucleus formed when the
target nucleus absorbs a neutron of zero kinetic energy Ek. This would be the difference of mass of neutron outside
the nucleus i.e. (M) and the mass inside the nucleus after capture (M/) i .e. Eo = M - M/. The excitation energy of the
compound nucleus Eo is then just (numerically) equal to the binding energy of the neutron. An examination of the figure
2.7 shows that the energy does not corresponds to any of the quantum levels of the compound nucleus. However, if the
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neutron has a certain amount of kinetic energy EK, sufficient to bring the energy of the compound nucleus up to E 1, the
nucleus will be in one of its quantum states. Thus, when the neutron has kinetic energy E k=E1-Eo, resonance absorption
occurs, and the nuclear cross section is exceptionally large. There will, similarly, be resonance absorption for neutrons
of kinetic energy E2-Eo so that the total energy E2 is equal to that of another quantum level of the compound nucleus, as
seen in the figure 2.7.
As a massive nuclei has greater number of quantum energy levels compared to smaller mass nuclei, specific energies for
which an absorption peak may occur depends considerably on type and size of the target nuclei. Most of the elements
having low mass numbers do not exhibit resonance absorption peaks. This does not mean that they are not important as
regard to be used as reactor material. There may be the cases that there total cross section is then contributed by s
instead of a and still they may be used as reflector or moderator.
The resonance peaks are much more pronounced in case of heavier nuclei e.g.

238

U92 which has 8 to 9 peaks of very

heavy energy [figure 2.8]. The greater number of peaks in this case may be attributed to more number of nucleon in
238

U92 as compared to 235U92 and thus greater number of shell and quantum level states are available.

Figure: 2.8 A sketch of total microscopic cross section for 238U92 .

An idea about the precision or the sharpness of the resonance peaks can be expressed by the resonance peak width.
Usually it is taken in keV at a cross-section equal to one half of the peak value. It has been observed that with increasing
temperature resonance width increases and peak height decreases. This effect is also termed as Doppler Broadening.
The widening of resonance peak would contribute more towards absorption of neutron in this region. As maximum
absorption chances are present in this resonance region therefore this region is the most suitable reason for reactors
which are meant for production of fissile material from fertile material. Hence the converters or production reactors are
operated in this region.
Fast region:
In this region absorption cross-section decreases as energy increases beyond the resonance range. Theoretically crosssection at any energy is difficult to predict because here the cross-section decreases and increases abruptly and
haphazardly.
Fast breeder reactors are operated in this region. When the fissile nuclide produced is identical with that used to
maintain fission chain, the reactor is called breeder reactor. A fast breeder reactor more usually utilizes Pu-239 as the
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fuel and U-238 as the fertile species. These reactors can generate power at the same time producing more Pu-239 than is
consumed. The fertile species is employed in the form of blanket, which surrounds the core, and so large proportions of
the neutrons escaping from the core are captured in the blanket. In most breeder reactor design, especially for fast
reactors, some fertile material, (e.g. U-238) is included in the core. Fissile nuclei are then formed both in the core and in
the blanket. The fissile material produced in the core is useful as fuel at the place of formation. That generated in the
blanket, however, must be returned to the core in some manner if it is to be utilized efficiently.
The cross sections in fast region are usually low, being less than 10 barns in most cases and becoming even smaller for
energies of the order of 0.1 MeV or more. The absorption cross-section at high energies of an order of 1MeV are then
similar in magnitude to the geometric cross section of the nucleus, i.e. 2 to 3 barns.

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Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan