Uranium-238 Inelastic Neutron Scattering at 82 keV

Using a thick iron filter to produce an 82-keV group of nearly monoenergetic pulsed neutrons from the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator white neutron source, the differential and integrated neutron inelastic scattering cross sections from the first excited state of ²³⁸U have been measured. We find that the angular distribution is forward peaked, and we obtain estimates of the Legendre coefficients of P₀, P₁, and P₂. The measured integrated inelastic cross section is 381 ± 21 mb, in good agreement with the ENDF/B-V evaluation and with other statistical and optical model calculations.