II.

Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Introduction
The main goal of this course is to develop an understanding of how reactors behave and the
skills to quantify their behavior. We know that reactor behavior fundamentally depends on the
production and loss rates of neutrons. We also know that these rates depend on interactions
between neutrons and nuclei. In this chapter we review these interactions.

A Simple Experiment
We consider a beam of neutrons, all traveling at the same speed in the same direction,
perpendicular to a thin plate of material. The material contains only a single nuclide.

We assume the plate is so thin that all nuclei see the same beam intensity no nucleus is
shielded by other nuclei. We define:
I = beam intensity
= rate per unit area at which neutrons reach target
[ neutrons / cm2-s ] .
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 7
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

N = number density of target nuclei

[ nuclei / cm3].

= target-beam interaction area [ cm2 ].

x = target thickness [ cm ].

We reason that the rate at which neutrons collide with nuclei must be proportional to IA (the rate
at which neutrons strike) and to Nx (the areal density of target nuclei). Putting this statement
into mathematical language, and using the symbol to represent the constant of proportionality,
we get the following:

, (1)
or
colliding neutrons
sec =

Microscopic Cross Sections

The constant of proportionality, , is called the microscopic cross section. It has units of

If neutrons were classical point particles and nuclei were classical spheres, would be just the
cross-sectional area of the nucleus. (Think about it.) In reality neutron-nuclear interactions obey
quantum-mechanical laws; nevertheless, you can think of as

that a nucleus presents to a neutron.

When dealing with microscopic cross sections we use the following area unit:

(2)
We have described as a constant of proportionality. However, if we changed anything
about our simple experiment, we might expect our constant to change. This is in fact the case:

microscopic
cross sections
depend on:
and
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 8
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Example

Consider a neutron beam impinging on a thin sheet as shown below:

The beam has an intensity of 1010 neutrons/cm2-sec. The neutrons all have the same speed; each
has a kinetic energy of 1 MeV. The beam completely covers the target area. The microscopic
cross section for 1-MeV neutrons is 5 barns (per atom), the target area is 3 cm2, the target
thickness is 0.01 cm, and the atom density is 41022 atoms/cm3. At what rate do the incident
neutrons collide with target atoms?

Solution: By Eq. (1), we have

= 6107 n/s .

Microscopic Cross Sections for Different Reactions

In the preceding discussion we were looking at the total rate at which neutrons interact with
nuclei, without distinguishing between different kinds of interactions (elastic scattering, fission,
inelastic scattering, capture, etc.). The that we used above is called the microscopic total cross
section, and is denoted t. It is the sum of microscopic cross sections for various specific
interactions:
t =
= (3)

where

t = microscopic total cross section,

a = microscopic absorption cross section,
s = microscopic scattering cross section,
or c = microscopic radiative capture cross section,
f = microscopic fission cross section,
n,2n = microscopic (n,2n) cross section,
n, = microscopic (n,alpha) cross section,
e = microscopic elastic scattering cross section,
in = microscopic inelastic scattering cross section, (4)
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 9
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

The microscopic cross section for a certain kind of reaction can be thought of as the effective
area of the nucleus for that particular kind of reaction. Also, the ratio
is the probability that, given a collision,

Example

In the previous example, the total microscopic cross section was 5 barns/atom. Suppose the
scattering cross section (s) was 0.5 barns/atom. What was the absorption rate in the target?

Solution: We know the collision rate was 6107 n/s. (Do we really know this?) We also know
that
a/t = (t-s)/t = (5 0.5)/5 = 0.9

Question: Did we miss anything?

Macroscopic Cross Sections

We notice that the microscopic cross section, x, is usually multiplied by the number density, N,
of the element in question. [See Eq. (1).] We therefore find it convenient to give the product
Nx a name:

x = macroscopic x cross section

= (5)

for each different type, x = {t, a, s, , f, ...}, of interaction. Macroscopic cross sections have units
of
inverse length: [nuclei/cm3] [cm2/nucleus] = cm1.
In addition to their convenience, macroscopic cross sections have an important physical
interpretation. The macroscopic cross section for reaction x is the
expected number of

To see why this is true, we return to the equation for our simple experiment:

Rate [reactions/sec] = I[n/cm2-sec] A[cm2] [cm2/nucleus] N[nuclei/cm3] x[cm].

We have already defined tN to be t:

Rate [reactions/sec] = I[n/cm2-sec] A[cm2] t[cm1] x[cm]. (6)

We now recognize that IAx is the total neutron path length per second in the target the rate at
which neutrons make tracks:
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 10
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Path-length Rate
[cm of neutron path-length/s] = I[n/cm2-s] A[cm2] x[cm]. (7)

Putting things together, we see that

[reactions/s] = [cm of neutron path-length/s] (8)

This equation implies that is the expected number of reactions per cm of neutron path length.

Reaction Rates
In Chapter I of these notes, we discussed the importance of computing neutron production and
loss rates in a reactor. We shall soon see that

are needed for computing production & loss rates. For example, the loss rate due to absorption is
the integral of absorption rate density over the reactor volume. The production rate due to
fission depends on the integral of fission rate density over the reactor volume. Clearly, reaction
rate densities are a vital component of the study of nuclear reactors.
Considering our simple experiment in the previous section, we wrote an equation describing
the total rate at which reactions took place [reactions per second]. We now rewrite this equation
to describe the reaction rate density, the rate per unit volume at which reactions take place
[reactions per cm3-sec]. This is easy; we just divide Eq. (6) by the target volume, Ax:

Reaction Rate Density [reactions/cm3-s] = (9)

This equation gives the RRD for our simple beam experiment.
According to Eq. (7) the product IAx is the neutron path length per second in the target.
Since Ax is the target volume, I must be the neutron path length per unit volume per unit time.
Thus, Eq. (9) just says

. (10)

We derived these equations by considering a beam striking a thin target. However, equation
(10) is

We just need to give a name to the quantity [neutron path length/cm3-s], which in our specific
problem was the beam intensity. In general, for neutrons that all have the same speed, we define

=
(11)

Neutrons dont often travel around in mono-directional beams the scalar flux is usually due to
neutrons traveling in many different directions. We will spend a significant portion of this
course trying to compute the scalar flux in situations that are somewhat more complicated than
our beam experiment.
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 11
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Example

We shall compute a reaction rate density for a simple problem. Consider two neutron beams
impinging on a very thin foil as shown below:

The beam from the left has an intensity of 31010 n/cm2-s, while the one from the right has
51010 n/cm2-s. The neutrons all have the same speed; each has a kinetic energy of 1 MeV.
Each beam completely covers the target area.
The target sheet is composed of pure texasaynimium-602. (This element has not yet been
discovered, but its only a matter of time.) The density of the texasaynimium is 25 grams/cm3.
The atomic mass of this element is 602.2 atomic mass units. At a neutron kinetic energy of
1MeV, the texasaynimium-602 has a microscopic total cross section of 20 barns.
What is the expected reaction rate density in the texasaynimium?
1) Expected reactions per unit path length:
t =
=

=
=

2) Scalar Flux (expected path-length rate density):

=
=

3) RRD:
RRD =

Mixtures of Nuclides
In the preceding discussion we considered targets composed purely of a single nuclide. The
generalization to mixtures is quite straightforward.
Consider a material composed of two nuclides, Y and Z:
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 12
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Lets pretend for a moment that the Z nuclei are not present:

We know the reaction rate for this case it is the single-nuclide case we already analyzed:
Rate for case Y = I[n/cm2-s] A[cm2] x[cm] tY[cm1], (12)

where

tY = NY tY = nuclei of Y cm2 . (13)

cm of target nucleus of Y
3

If we pretend now that the Y nuclei are not present, we see:

Rate for case Z = I[n/cm2-s] A[cm2] x[cm] tZ[cm1], (14)

where

tZ = NZ tZ = nuclei of Z cm2 . (15)

cm3 of target nucleus of Z

For our mixed material we just add the rates for each nuclide:
Rate for mixture = I[n/cm2-s] A[cm2] x[cm] tmix[cm1], (16)

where
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 13
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

tmix = (17)

That was the two-nuclide case. It is easy to generalize:

(18)

Remember: when computing number densities in a mixture, each is number per unit volume of
mixture. Dont talk yourself into assigning part of the volume to each nuclide! Remember the
two pictures above, one with only Z and the other with only Y!

Example

We uniformly mix 50 grams of helium (He4) and 6 grams of hydrogen (H1) in a 200-cc
container. What is the macroscopic total cross section at a neutron speed of 2200 m/s?

Data: tHe = 0.8 barns, tH = 38 barns.

Atomic mass of He 4 amu 4 grams/mole
4
Atomic mass of H1 1 amu 1 grams/mole

Solution:
1) We know that tmix = tHe + tH .

2) tHe = N tHe
= (50 g) (1mole/4g) (.6022 1024 nuclei/mole)/(200cm3)
(.8b/nucleus) (10-24cm2/b)

= 0.03 cm1.

tH = N tH
= (6 g) (1mole/1g) (.6022 1024 nuclei/mole)/(200cm3)
(38b/nucleus) (10-24cm2/b)

= 0.69 cm1.

3) Thus tmix 0.72 cm1.

Attenuation, Mean Free Paths, ...

We return to our uniform beam of mono-energetic neutrons incident normally upon a target ,
as in the Figure on p. 6. This time we allow the target to be thick. We define:

I(x) = intensity of uncollided neutrons at distance x into the target

[n / cm2-s]
= intensity of neutrons that have reached distance x without
interacting with any nuclei.
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 14
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Simple reasoning (conservation of neutrons, actually) tells us:

Beam Beam Intensity Intensity

intensity = intensity + added between removed between
at x2 at x1 x1 and x2 x1 and x2

There is no mechanism for adding to the uncollided intensity, so the second term on the right-
hand side is zero. If we assume that (x2x1) is very small, with no hidden nuclei, then the
intensity removed is given by our equation (6) the thin-target collision rate divided through
by the area A. This equation gives removal because

We must divide the equation by A because intensity removal is removal rate per unit area.
Our conservation statement, written mathematically, is therefore:

or:

(19)

Taking the limit as x2 approaches x1, we obtain a differential equation:

(20)

We can easily solve this equation using an integrating factor. We then obtain:

(21)

where I0 is the uncollided intensity at x=0. Thus, uncollided neutrons are

as they try to pass through matter. This is analogous to the exponential decay of radioactive
nuclides as they try to pass through time.
It is often useful to know the average path length that a neutron travels between collisions.
We give it a name:

Lets compute it. We first need the probability of travelling an arbitrary distance x before
colliding within dx about x:
p(x)dx = probability that a neutrons first collision is in dx about x

= (22)
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 15
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Now we want the average (mean) of the distance x. Note that in general, the average of a
function f(x) over the interval (x1,x2) is:

where w(x) is some given weight function. In our case the weight function is the probability
density function p(x); thus:

mean distance to first collision

= mean free path

= [The denominator = 1. The probability that it collides somewhere is unity!]

= (23)

A big cross section means a short mean free path, as one would expect. Of course, mean free
path has units of

We can define mean free paths for various individual reactions as well. For example,
mean path length (not straight-line distance) to absorption
= absorption mean free path
= (24)

Another commonly-used mean free path is the scattering mean free path, 1/s.

Example

How far do 2200-m/sec neutrons travel, on average, between collisions in the gas mixture of our
previous example?

Solution:

The question asks for the neutron mean free path. The answer is
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 16
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Temperature Dependence
To this point we have ignored a very important subject: the temperature dependence of cross
sections. If there were no such dependence, reactors would behave much differently than they
do. In fact, they would be
less safe!
We stated earlier (p. 9) that microscopic cross sections depend on the

Let us get really detailed now about computing reaction rates. Recall our thin-target experiment
on page 6, and suppose that all the nuclei are at rest in the lab frame (very cold target). Let
v = lab-frame velocity of each
V = lab-frame velocity of a given nucleus in target [cm/s]
= 0 in this cold-target case.
Then we have
vr relative speed between neutron & nucleus
=
and
RRD =

Suppose we used our simple cold-target experiment to measure the cross section for a whole
range of neutron energies:

(We have chosen to plot cold as a function of neutron kinetic energy this is okay because
there is a one-to-one correspondence between neutron speed and neutron kinetic energy.)
Now consider the same material with vibrating nuclei. This is the real-life case, of course.
Now there is a range of relative speeds seen by the incident neutrons:
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 17
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

To compute reaction-rate densities in this case we have to know something about

the distribution of target velocities.
Let us define this distribution, (V):
(V)dVxdVydVz =

Now if we consider only the nuclei whose velocities are in the velocity cube dVxdVydVz, we
have
RRD with only the
nuclei in vel cube =

Thus, the total reaction-rate density is the sum (integral) over all of the velocity cubes:

RRD = (25)

or

RRD =

Note that

the ordinary number density

Now define an averaged cross section:

(v) (26)
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 18
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

If the nuclei are vibrating isotropically that is, if there is no preferred direction along which
the nuclei are wiggling then it turns out that our averaged cross section does not depend on
the neutrons direction. That is, in this case we can write it as (v) instead of (v). Then we
have our old formula again, except that we must use our new averaged cross section:
RRD = I [n/cm2-s]N[nuclei/cm3](v) [cm2] . (27)

Thus, we see that in general the cross section we must use for neutrons of a given speed is some
average of the cold cross section over a range of neutron incident energies.
Of course, if the nucleis vibrational speeds are much lower than the neutron speed, then we have
[only if |V| << |v|] (28)

That is, if the material is cold, then the averaged cross section the cold cross section.
The range over which the averaging takes place increases with increasing temperature,
because higher temperature produces a wider range of vibrational velocities of the nuclei. Note:

The most important consequence of this is

Doppler broadening
of cross-section resonances. This effect, pictured above, leads to increased parasitic capture of
neutrons as fuel temperature increases, at least in commercial reactors. [No, this is not obvious
at this point. Well discuss it a lot more later.] This important

mechanism adds considerably to the safety of large power reactors.

But even away from resonances, the cross sections we use are
temperature-dependent,
for the same reason. The change in the averaged cross section with changing temperature is just
much larger near a resonance.

Differential Scattering Cross Sections

Often we care not only about the rate at which a certain reaction occurs, but also about the
results of the reaction. For example, suppose we know the rate at which 1-MeV neutrons scatter
off of hydrogen in our reactor. What happens to the scattered neutrons? At what energy or
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 19
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

energies do they emerge? If we are to compute what happens to them next, we will have to
know this sort of thing.
Thus, we need not only the cross section for scattering, but also the

that results. Let us define this distribution:

p(EiEf)dEf =

We could measure p(EiEf) by returning to our thin-target experiment and placing energy-
sensitive detectors all around the target. If we did this for neutrons of a certain energy Ei, we
might find something like this:

Note:
1) p(EiEf) is a
2) The area under the curve
3) p(EiEf) has units of

4)

(29)

From the definition of p(EiEf) it follows that

s(Ei)p(EiEf)dEf = microscopic cross section forscattering

We give this product a name:

s(Ei)p(EiEf) s(EiEf)
= microscopic
= [cm2 / MeV / nucleus]
NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 20
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Naturally, we also define a macroscopic differential cross section:

s(EiEf) Ns(EiEf)
= macroscopic differential scattering cross section
= [cm1 MeV1 ]

Incidentally, the name differential cross section makes some sense if you notice that
the integral of the differential cross section = the cross section.
That is,
(30)

because p(EiEf) integrates to unity.

Example

The number density in some thin sample of material, containing only a single isotope, is 21022
atoms/cm3. A monoenergetic beam of 100-keV neutrons impinges upon this target, creating a
uniform scalar flux of 100-keV neutrons equal to 3108 n/cm2-s. You are given the following
information about the scattering cross section in the isotope:
s(E) = [10 + E0/E] b, where E0 = 200 keV;

0, E f > Ei ,

p(EiEf) = 1
E , E f < Ei .
i

Question: At what rate per cm3 are neutrons scattering into the energy interval (1keV,10keV)?

Answer:
1) The scattering rate density is

2) The fraction of scattered neutrons that emerge in the given interval is:
fraction =

3) Thus, the answer is

NUEN 301 Course Notes, Marvin L. Adams, Fall 2008 21
Chapter II: Neutron-Nucleus Interactions

Summary
We know that reactor behavior fundamentally depends on the production and loss rates of
neutrons. Many production and loss mechanisms are neutron-nucleus reactions; thus,
computation of production & loss rates requires computation of reaction rates.
The following summarizes a few key facts about reaction rates:
1) reaction rates are volume integrals of reaction rate densities.
2) reaction rate densities are (usually) integrals over energy of (E)(E).
3) () is path-length rate per unit volume per MeV.
4) is expected reactions per unit path length.
5) is N .
6) There is a different for each different kind of reaction.
7) Each fundamentally depends on relative speed between neutron & nucleus.
Almost always, we can average this fundamental over the distribution of
nucleus velocities and obtain a cross section that is a function of the neutron lab-
frame speed. Buried in this averaged cross section, of course, are the details of the
wiggles of the nuclei; however, we can usually characterize these wiggles by the
materials temperature. Thus, the cross sections that look like functions of the
neutron lab-frame speed (or kinetic energy) are also functions of the material
temperature.