Neutron Metrology and Cross Section Measurements at PTB

by Ralf NOLTE (PTB Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany)

Tuesday 21 Dec 2010, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Rome

LNL Meeting Room (INFN LNL)

The ion accelerator facility PIAF at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig Germany consists of a 3.7 MV single-ended Van-de-Graaff accelerator and a CV28 isochronous cyclotron. The proton and deuteron beams from these two machines are used to produce neutron reference beams in the energy range from 24 keV to 20 MeV for internal and external users. The talk describes instruments and techniques used for the measurements of the spectral neutron distribution and the integral neutron yield. Measurements of neutron cross sections relevant for nuclear technology, in particular for fusion engineering, are carried out in the neutron energy range from about 2 MeV to 15 MeV using a well-characterised time-of-flight spectrometer. Some recent results and improvements of this instrument are presented. The talk reports also on activities in the energy range between 20 MeV and 200 MeV carried out by the PTB group together with external partners at accelerator facilities in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) an Cape Town (South Africa). Plans for upgrading the PIAF facility by a 5 MV tandetron accelerator and, in the long-term perspective, by a light-ion accelerator for the 200 – 400 MeV are presented.