An assessment of neutron resonance data for mid-mass isotopes

Abstract

A survey has been conducted of the resonance data available in the major evaluated libraries for a range of mid-mass isotopes. Although many isotopes have data derived from experimental measurements and rigorous analyses, the data for some others, particularly for isotopes that are unstable, are purely theoretically generated, e.g. via the use of the TARES code. A subsequent project has developed a suite of automated tools to rapidly inspect the resonance data available for a specified isotope. These tools calculate a range of values and distributions for the available data (e.g. cumulative number of resonances versus neutron energy) and use a comparison against expected theoretical values (e.g. a Porter-Thomas distribution) to suggest their physical validity or otherwise. The motivation for this study, the tools developed, and results for a number of isotopes, are presented in this paper.