ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
Nuclear Technology
August 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
In transition: Commercializing fusion power
Commercial fusion power is closer than ever. There are now around 30 U.S. fusion companies, several of which claim to be on track to connect to the grid as early as the 2030s.
Tokamak and laser inertial confinement approaches benefit from decades of research at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and ITER, with alternative concepts including stellarator, magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch confinement also making notable progress as private and government funding for fusion increases.
A. Fessler, A. J. M. Plompen, D. L. Smith, J. W. Meadows, Y. Ikeda
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 134 | Number 2 | February 2000 | Pages 171-200
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE99-14
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Cross sections have been measured with the activation technique at various neutron energies in the range of 16.0 to 20.5 MeV for the following 22 reactions: 19F(n,p)19O, 23Na(n,p)23Ne, 23Na(n,)20F, 25Mg(n,p)25Na, 27Al(n,p)27Mg, 28Si(n,p)28Al, 29Si(n,p)29Al, 29Si(n, np + pn + d)28Al, 31P(n,)28Al, 35Cl(n,2n)34mCl, 37Cl(n,p)37S, 46Ti(n,p)46mSc, 50Ti(n,p)50g+mSc, 51V(n,p)51Ti, 55Mn(n,)52V, 56Fe(n,p)56Mn, 57Fe(n, np + pn + d)56Mn, 57Fe(n,p)57Mn, 93Nb(n,)90mY, 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb, 119Sn(n,p)119gIn, and 138Ba(n,2n)137mBa. The half-lives for the reaction products range from 11 s to 10.15 days. Quasi-monoenergetic neutrons were produced via the 3H(d, n)4He reaction. In some cases isotopically enriched materials were used to enhance the reaction yield or to facilitate correction for interfering reactions leading to the same product. The gamma rays emitted from the irradiated samples were measured with a high-purity germanium detector. A pneumatic sample transport system was used to limit the decay of the radioactive products between neutron irradiation and gamma-ray counting. All cross sections were obtained as ratios to the standard reaction 27Al(n,)24Na, using as secondary neutron fluence references the 27Al(n,p)27Mg reaction as well as a calibrated Bonner sphere. Corrections have been applied for sample-irradiation and counting environment geometric effects, neutron absorption and multiple scattering, time variation of neutron-source strength, neutron-source angular distributions, secondary neutrons from the target, gamma-ray absorption, and gamma-ray sum coincidences. A detailed analysis of the uncertainty sources was performed. The present results are compared with other measurements and evaluated data. For seven reactions, measured cross sections have been obtained for the first time beyond 15 MeV. These new data help appreciably to resolve discrepancies in evaluated data files.