2010 journal article

Reanalysis of Recent Neutron Diffusion and Transmission Measurements in Nuclear Graphite

NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, 165(2), 200–209.

By: C. Gould n, A. Hawari n & E. Sharapov*

Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

Abstract We revisit the determination by Bowman et al. of unusual neutron transport characteristics for a newly fabricated form of graphite [Nucl. Sci. Eng., 159, 182 (2008); Nucl. Sci. Eng., 161, 68 (2009)]. From MCNP modeling and consideration of data from other experiments, we determine revised values for the neutron transport parameters of this graphite. Our reanalysis gives a coherent scattering cross section σcoh ˜ 4 b at 50 meV, a small-angle neutron scattering cross section σsans ˜ 11 to 13 b at 1 meV, and an effective capture cross section σa = 5.8 ± 0.5 mb. Scaled to a graphite reference density of 1.60 g/cm3, we find a diffusion coefficient D̄ = 0.94 ± 0.03 cm and a diffusion length L = 47.7 ± 3.7 cm. Apart from the somewhat larger values of σa and D̄, these are not untypical parameters for graphite. Based on our investigation, the recent experiments and analysis of Bowman et al. do not give evidence for different transport properties for this newly fabricated graphite.