SYSTEMATIC TREATMENT OF PHOTO-NUCLEAR CROSS-SECTION CALCULATIONS

Abstract

The photoneutron cross-sections for twelve radioactive elements are analyzed and are shown to follow an empirical formula. The aim of suggesting this mathematical formula is to be used in -ray incineration calculations, where the numerical effort is greatly reduced. The method used in the present research is simple and direct. The results of calculating incineration rate of selected radioactive isotopes were fitted to a simple polynomial form that takes into account the properties of the specified nucleus and the energy and flux intensity of the used -rays. Direct application of the present results on the selected radioactive isotopes shows that the suggested formula is efficient and accurate within accepted range of error. The radioactive elements selected represent a group of actinides resulting from nuclear fission reaction. A verity of -ray fluxes are selected that span a proper range of practical calculations. This leads to sixty fitted equations, with each equation containing five terms. This will provide enough accuracy and reliability for the suggested method. Fair comparisons with published work revealed that the current method gives satisfactory results.