Production of long-lived ²⁶Al and ²⁴Na from neutron interaction in Al target

Abstract

The excitation functions of (n, 2n) and (n,<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"> α) reactions for the production of long-lived radio nuclides ²⁶Al and ²⁴Na from ²⁷Al have been calculated for 1-20 MeV neutrons. The excitation functions of these reactions are calculated using the codes ALICE-91, EMPIRE-2.19 and TALYS-1.0. The codes account for the major nuclear reaction mechanisms, including direct, pre-equilibrium and compound nuclear ones. The excitation functions of these isotopes have been compared graphically with the evaluated nuclear data file and available experimental data. The results are more or less agreeing up to which energy the experimental data are available whereas ALICE code largely under predicts the data in the energy range 1-20 MeV.

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