ARTICLE IN PRESS

Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158

A new 9Be(a,n) cross-section evaluation for use in the

SOURCES computer code
E.F. Shoresa,b,*, G.E. Muellera, G.A. Schlapperc
a
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO 65401, USA
b
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop K483, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
c
National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos Site Office, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
Received 26 February 2003; received in revised form 12 May 2003; accepted 14 May 2003

Abstract

Experimental breakup reaction data was the basis for choosing a set of a optical potential parameters for calculating
the cross section from the 9Be(a; a0 n) reaction with the GNASH code. Although not in complete agreement with
experimental values, the promising results suggest additional work and continued research for optimal parameters.
Accommodating modifications in the SOURCES code system required improved data and an approximation for the
three-body reaction branching fractions is presented as a temporary solution. Experimental spectra from AcBe, CmBe,
and simulated AmBe neutron sources are compared to SOURCES calculations using the new branching fractions and
serve as benchmarks for this new version of the code.
r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Beryllium; Breakup reaction; a decay; Neutron production; Branching fraction

1. Introduction of that cross section are less so. Specifically, the

For a variety of scenarios, neutron production rates
and spectra from (a; n) reaction, spontaneous fission,
and delayed neutron sources may be calculated with the
SOURCES computer code (Wilson et al., 2002). In
terms of (a; n) reactions with light target elements used
as neutron production sources, 9Be plays an important
role as that isotope produces the highest neutron yield
among available candidates. Relying on that quality,
thousands of durable, essentially maintenance free
actinide-beryllium neutron sources (e.g. PuBe and
AmBe) are in existence.
Neutron yields are essentially determined by the total
neutron production cross section and while beryllium’s
total (a; n) cross section is well known, the components
*Corresponding author. Los Alamos National Laboratory,
Mail Stop K483, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA. Tel.: +505-
665-76-43; fax: +505-667-97-26.
E-mail address: eshores@lanl.gov (E.F. Shores).
contribution from a three-body breakup reaction,
suggested as the cause of lower-energy spectral disagree-
ment among measured actinide-beryllium neutron
sources is an area that has been little explored (Geiger,
1980). Experimental data for this breakup reaction:
 8
4 Beða; a Þ4 Be -4 Be
9 0 9
þ10 n ð1Þ
is sparse and additions to the data set would be valuable.
Such information may be used to generate branching
fractions that could then improve spectral calculations
from SOURCES by appropriately including neutrons of
lower energy than those produced in the typical binary
(a; n) reaction. The present code version, SOURCES 4C,
will be upgraded to 5A as a result of spectral
improvements shown below.
For this ongoing work, a theoretical/numerical model
is used to calculate a-induced cross sections for
beryllium and energy spectra for Ea o10 MeV. Several
spectra are compared to a previous evaluation and the
approximation ultimately incorporated into the relevant

0969-8043/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0969-8043(03)00157-X
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
152 E.F. Shores et al. / Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158
SOURCES data file is presented. Subsequent calcula-
tions from SOURCES represent an improved method to
obtain neutron spectral information. This work is of
interest for several reasons: (1) nondestructive assay of
nuclear materials via neutron counting is a common
technique and verification of contents based on mea-
surements can be supplemented with Monte Carlo and
SOURCES code calculations; (2) improvement can be
gained in shielding estimates for neutron sources similar
to those configurations analyzed; (3) more accurate
fluence estimates can lead to improved dosimetric
estimations and imply applications for personnel and
aging systems (e.g. nuclear weapons and waste storage)
where dose may be of concern.
This work’s model is summarized in Section 2. Several
experiments are compared to calculated results with a
brief analysis in Section 3 and conclusions are presented
in Section 4.
2. Theoretical/numerical treatment and parameters
The GNASH code (Young et al., 1992) provides a
method to calculate reaction and level cross sections,
isomer ratios, and emission spectra resulting from
particle and photon-induced reactions. In the case of a
particles incident on 9Be, there are a variety of
possibilities (Fig. 1) and such complicated reaction
sequences are calculated by using Hauser–Feshbach
(HF) theory. HF theory may be conceptually viewed as
the formal descriptions accounting for total angular
momentum and parity conservation in the statistical
model expression of a binary reaction’s cross section; a
review on that subject is found elsewhere (Vogt, 1968).
α + 9Be
γ
13
C
p α
n
α
12 9
B Be
d spacing of nuclear levels in light targets makes nuclear
12
C model calculations based on statistical pre-equilibrium
n n
5
t He
n
11 8 simple reasons of availability and limited previous
B Be
11
C 2000). Indeed, such data may provide insight to those
n n
10
B 7
Be
Fig. 1. Reaction chains for a-induced reactions on 9Be.
Absolute angle-integrated particle spectra and de-
excitation cross sections of discrete states are the
primary output from GNASH and absolute reaction
cross sections may be obtained from the integrated and
summed calculated spectra.
SOURCES data for beryllium, however, were pri-
marily derived from an evaluation to determine the
‘‘best cross-section data’’ from the existing literature
(Geiger, 1976). In the reference data set, total cross
sections, extending to 7.9 MeV, were reported in
addition to components from the carbon product
nucleus ground state, first three excited states, and that
of the breakup reaction, denoted n0 ; n1 ; n2 ; n3 ; and nb ;
respectively, in Fig. 2. Related work from Gibbons and
Macklin (1965) discussed in the aforementioned evalua-
tion is also shown in Fig. 2. Ratios of these five states’
cross sections to that of the total provide branching
fractions necessary for spectral calculations. In the case
of the breakup reaction’s component, a 1.0 MeV
psuedo-level of carbon was created as an allowance for
previous versions of SOURCES to incorporate breakup
data. With respect to SOURCES spectral histograms,
this scheme misappropriated neutrons. The original
code developers were keenly aware of this ‘‘breakup
problem’’ of low-energy neutron contributions (Wilson,
1996) but employed the approximation in the code’s
branching fraction library (tape4) in light of other
constraints associated with code development.
With the addition of the three-body problem (Eq. (1)),
kinematic descriptions (XXX, 2003), new information
regarding the first three excited states of beryllium is
required. In other words, the singular breakup cross
section from the 1976 data must be broken down into
three components in order to predict energy limits of
neutrons produced as a result of inelastically scattered a
particles leaving beryllium in one of three excited states.
In the absence of such data, the GNASH code was
employed to generate a new set.
Because GNASH was intended for medium to heavy
targets, there was doubt about its ability to properly
treat a light target such as beryllium. Indeed, as shown
below, this work reveals limited agreement between
GNASH calculations and experimental data. Wide
and equilibrium decay theories unreliable. Despite these
shortcomings, however, GNASH was employed for the
experience with similar low-Z targets (Mashnik et al.,
responsible for the GNASH code.
2.1. Calculation sequence
GNASH requires spherical optical model transmis-
sion coefficients, and they are introduced through an
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
E.F. Shores et al. / Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158 153

800
700

Cross Section (mb)

600
500 σT
σ T (Gibbons/Macklin)
400
nb
300 n1
200
n0
100 n3
n2
0
0 2 4 6 8
Alpha Energy (MeV)
Fig. 2. Total 9Be(a; n) cross section.

external input file, tape10. These coefficients, however, 400

expressing the probability that a particle (a in this case) Dotted lines are GNASH
350 5.90 MeV
will be able to cross the target’s nuclear surface, are calculations while data
generated through another optical model calculation. 300 points are from Geiger [5]
Following local practice at Los Alamos, such coeffi- 250
cients for use in GNASH were calculated with Bersil-
mb/MeV

lon’s SCAT code (Bersillon, 1981; Young et al., 1992).
Generally speaking, the optical model characterizes the
interaction of two nuclei in terms of a complex potential.
A common procedure in the analyses of scattering
experiments is to assume some particular form of the
potential and adjust its composite parameters until the
calculated scattering yields a good fit to the measure-
ment. Initial approximations of the potential were
simply square wells and modified in favor of nuclear
potentials that vary smoothly to zero such as the
Woods–Saxon (WS) form (Woods and Saxon, 1954).
Such exchanges have been made because the square well
model often disagrees with experimental data. In the
present work, parameters were taken from a reference
(Perey and Perey, 1976) containing 28 sets of optical
model parameters for a’s (8.76oEa o104 MeV) incident
on 9Be. Exploration of these potentials, of the WS form
for the real portion, and of the volume type for the
imaginary, absorbtive portion began with the following
parameters: V ¼ 185 MeV, W ¼ 25 MeV, r0 ¼ 1:4 fm
and a ¼ 0:52 fm (McFadden and Satchler, 1966).
Further description of the optical model and forms of
the included potential may be found elsewhere (Satchler,
1980; Veal, 1998).
Execution of GNASH outputs the desired cross
section. Managing the output in the appropriate angular
distributions was done with the locally used code
ANGPUL (Young, 1993). The 1976 data set (Geiger,
1976) contained angular distributions for eight incident
energies (7:44oEa o4:30 MeV) and spectral results,
calculated for three typical a bombarding energies
(5.01, 5.90, and 7.44 MeV), are seen with experimental
data in three pairs of curves in Fig. 3. While agreement is
200 5.01 MeV
150
7.44 MeV
100
50
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Neutron Energy (MeV)
Fig. 3. Comparison of breakup spectra for three bombarding
energies.
obviously limited, the results are promising in that some
shape similarity is seen. Perhaps further agreement could
be achieved with continued manipulation of the model
parameters. Unfortunately, the cross-section work was
not progressing at a pace commensurate with other code
development activities and the present paper represents
a status report.
2.2. Cross-section approximation
In light of difficulties associated with producing the
(a; a0 n) cross sections, the following approximation was
adopted. The zero degree kinematic limits for three
states in 9Be were calculated (Fig. 4). The integrated
cross-section curves for the eight energy curves ranging
from 4.44 MeVoEa o7:44 MeV were superimposed on
this two-dimensional plot in the third, or z-dimension.
Three of these curves are shown in Fig. 3 (cross section
versus En ). A new family of curves was then produced by
linearly interpolating between the eight cross-section sets
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
154 E.F. Shores et al. / Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158

3.5 SOURCES calculations may now be made with the

3 First three new branching fraction data.
excited states 3.04 MeV
2.5
Lab En (MeV)

2
3. Results and analysis
2.43 MeV
1.5

1 Three actinide-beryllium neutron sources were se-

0.5 1.67 MeV
lected as practical examples to highlight changes in the
SOURCES code because of their prolific nature. Of
0
2 3 4 5 6 7
particular interest in these examples is the fraction, f ; of
Eα (MeV)
neutrons less than 1.5 MeV. Experimental data is plotted
with SOURCES calculated spectra in Figs. 6–8.
Fig. 4. Neutron energy limits for breakup neutrons. SOURCES outputs a histogram distribution and all
drawn curves are intended to guide the eye.

3.1. Actinium beryllium source

350.00
300.00 The first example, an AcBe source, takes advantage of
cross-section

250.00 a modified version of SOURCES presently unavailable

(mb)

200.00 to the public that extended the a energy cap from 6.5 to
150.00 10 MeV. The main modification in that version of the
100.00 code, SOURCESX, artificially extended the cross-
50.00 section data sets for all targets by assuming a constant
0.00
value from the last available data point from each series
to 10 MeV. Assumptions necessary for those modifica-
0.00
7.55
7.1

tions were expected to have minimal impact on the

6.65
6.2

1.80
5.75

present work’s beryllium problems as available cross-

5.29

V)
(Me
4.86

Ea section data already existed up to 7.9 MeV and the

4.30

(MeV
) maximum a energy encountered from actinium is
Fig. 5. (a; a0 n) cross section.
at 50 keV intervals and the result, shown in Fig. 5, was
then proportionately distributed based on the three-
body kinematic curves. The 1.67 and 2.43 MeV ber-
yllium states in Fig. 4 were divided at En ¼ 0:75 MeV
while the second and third states produced overlapping
curves divided at their 1.8 MeV intersection. Both
arbitrary divisions were made in the absence of similar,
overlapping curves that exist for all angles other than
zero in the domain En o3:0 MeV; the latter division was
at a natural intersection while the former was the
midpoint between the two lowest state’s maximum and
minimum values for En : The data of Geiger (1976) for
the breakup reaction’s component were subsequently
divided into the resulting three bins (i.e. En o0:75;
0.75oEn o1:8; and En > 1:8 MeV). Table 1 shows a
portion of beryllium’s branching fraction data
(4.4oEa o6:0 MeV) as modified for the new version of
SOURCES. The last three columns were previously
represented as a singular, fictitious carbon product
nuclear state whose sum equaled the breakup compo-
nent of Geiger (1976). The new fractions are the result of
the interpolation scheme and their sum taken from the
‘‘Frac’’ column indicates the fraction of the total cross
section attributed to the breakup reaction. New
En
7.4 MeV. Such a energies, along with a higher specific
activity, make this nuclide an attractive candidate for
high-intensity neutron sources.
The spectrum was determined with a stilbene spectro-
meter for En > 2 MeV and a gas-filled proportional
counter below that energy (Geiger and Van der Zwan,
1973). The small source, selected to minimize secondary
spectral effects, had an emission rate of 6.5  104 n/s
when the actinium content was 3.4 mCi. An implied
specific activity of 1.91  107 n/s-Ci is similar to a typical
value (2.24  107 n/s-Ci) and maximum theoretical yield
(2.62  107 n/s-Ci) reported elsewhere (DeTroyer et al.,
1971). Such a source is an excellent candidate for
benchmarking as actinium a particles are relatively
higher than many of those found in common sources
and the breakup reaction’s importance increases with a
energy. The neutron spectrum, shown in Fig. 6, has an
average energy of En ¼ 3:14 MeV with f ¼ 0:38:
For the SOURCES calculations, three a-emitting
source nuclides (211Bi, 211Po, and 227Ac) and one
target (9Be) were modeled with a 60-group energy
structure (0–12 MeV), although only actinium and
beryllium were included as a slowing down material.
Other potential targets, sources, or contaminants (e.g.
oxygen, daughters, or impurities) were neglected. The
resulting spectrum (Fig. 6) had a yield of 1.06  107 n/s-
Ci, average energy of En ¼ 3:57 MeV, and f ¼ 0:33:
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
E.F. Shores et al. / Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158 155

Table 1
Portion of the modified tape4 branching fraction file

Ea (MeV) Product nuclei levels (MeV)

Carbon Beryllium

0 4.44 7.65 9.64 Fraca 1.67 2.43 3.04

4.40 0.25 0.579 0.154 0 0.983 0.017 0 0

4.45 0.241 0.585 0.158 0 0.984 0.026 0 0
4.50 0.232 0.593 0.141 0 0.966 0.034 0 0
4.55 0.213 0.607 0.137 0 0.957 0.043 0 0
4.60 0.193 0.618 0.135 0 0.946 0.054 0 0
4.65 0.17 0.628 0.137 0 0.935 0.065 0 0
4.70 0.177 0.616 0.132 0 0.925 0.075 0 0
4.75 0.177 0.600 0.126 0 0.903 0.097 0 0
4.80 0.164 0.591 0.127 0 0.882 0.118 0 0
4.85 0.135 0.595 0.134 0 0.864 0.132 0.004 0
4.90 0.146 0.603 0.122 0 0.871 0.124 0.005 0
4.95 0.139 0.626 0.109 0 0.874 0.120 0.006 0
5.00 0.152 0.628 0.095 0 0.875 0.118 0.007 0
5.05 0.126 0.653 0.084 0 0.863 0.131 0.006 0
5.10 0.091 0.662 0.081 0 0.834 0.157 0.009 0
5.15 0.115 0.619 0.081 0 0.815 0.175 0.011 0
5.20 0.119 0.600 0.081 0 0.800 0.187 0.013 0
5.25 0.116 0.589 0.083 0 0.788 0.197 0.015 0
5.30 0.094 0.589 0.084 0 0.767 0.216 0.017 0
5.35 0.09 0.569 0.082 0 0.741 0.239 0.020 0
5.40 0.089 0.548 0.080 0 0.717 0.261 0.022 0
5.45 0.082 0.540 0.075 0 0.697 0.279 0.024 0
5.50 0.076 0.537 0.070 0 0.683 0.286 0.031 0
5.55 0.071 0.534 0.069 0 0.674 0.29 0.036 0
5.60 0.068 0.525 0.071 0 0.664 0.295 0.041 0
5.65 0.067 0.514 0.069 0 0.650 0.303 0.046 0.001
5.70 0.056 0.521 0.066 0 0.643 0.306 0.051 0.001
5.75 0.053 0.521 0.062 0 0.636 0.308 0.055 0.001
5.80 0.056 0.512 0.057 0 0.625 0.314 0.060 0.001
5.85 0.064 0.472 0.057 0 0.593 0.337 0.069 0.001
5.90 0.076 0.430 0.054 0 0.560 0.361 0.078 0.001
5.95 0.076 0.418 0.053 0 0.547 0.360 0.091 0.002
6.00 0.072 0.406 0.046 0.01 0.534 0.360 0.104 0.002
a
Frac=sum of branching fractions for carbon’s four product levels.

0.07
0.06
0.06 Geiger and Van der Zwan [19] calc.
Rel. Spectral Intensity

0.05 Geiger and Van der Zwan [17] exp.

Rel. Spectral Intensity

0.05
0.04
Lorch [21] experiment
Geiger and Van der Zwan [19] calc. 0.04
0.03
0.03 SOURCES 5A
SOURCES 5A SOURCES 4C
0.02 0.02
0.01 0.01
SOURCES 4C
0 0.00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
En (MeV) En (MeV)

Fig. 6. Comparison of AcBe spectra. Fig. 7. Comparison of CmBe spectra.


156 E.F. Shores et al. / Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158
0.045
0.04
Rel. Spectral Intensity
0.035
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005 SOURCES 4C
0 does expect a ‘‘higher intensity’’ of low- and inter-
0 2 4 6
En (MeV)
Fig. 8. Comparison of AmBe spectra.
Differences of about 14% in the latter two quantities are
typical of such calculations. These values seem repre-
sentative of the experiment and also corroborate a later
calculation by the same authors of En ¼ 3:87 MeV and
f ¼ 0:2870:03 for the same type of source (Geiger and
Van der Zwan, 1975).
Also shown in Fig. 6 is 4C’s spectrum, underestimat-
ing the low-energy component (f ¼ 0:085) and reflecting
a higher average energy at En ¼ 5:96 MeV. While 5A’s
estimates are an improvement, this example could have
been modeled in other ways. The inclusion of more
daughters and making more accurate atom density
calculations would have slightly altered all reported
values. The spectrum, for instance, would have become
softer and neutron yield higher if the 211Po atom density
was increased 1.33 times, as might be reasonable if
making approximations in the Bateman equations used
to estimate constituent’s atom densities.
3.2. Curium beryllium source
The next example, a curium-242 beryllium source, was
selected for comparison because of a significant low-
energy component (f ¼ 0:26) (Pauw and Aten, 1972).
Neutron spectra from curium–beryllium combinations
differ from plutonium or americium sources as curium
has higher-energy a’s and specific activity relative to
plutonium and americium (e.g. B6 MeV and 1000 Ci/g
as opposed to B5 MeV and 3 Ci/g for americium)
(Lorch, 1973).
Regarding experimental data, obtained with a thin
stilbene crystal spectrometer, the source emitted 3.3e6 n/s
and consisted of 0.3 mg of CmO2 plus 2.1 g Be (Lorch,
1973). Although En was not provided, an additional
calculation (Geiger and Van der Zwan, 1975) provides a
value of En ¼ 4:16 MeV and f ¼ 0:22 for comparison.
Singular source and target nuclides (242Cm and 9Be,
respectively) were modeled in a 60-group histogram (0–
12 MeV) for SOURCES input. The normalized spectra
calculated with 5A and 4C are shown in Fig. 7. The
experimental data and other calculations, normalized to
ARTICLE IN PRESS
the SOURCES calculated peak near 3.4 MeV are shown
in the figure. Agreement between calculation and
Geiger and Van der
Zwan simulation [24] experiment is generally limited, as also seen by Kumar
and Nagarajan (1977). The latter’s calculation is very
SOURCES 5A similar to Geiger and Van der Zwan’s (Fig. 7) and
extends to 11.6 MeV as does the present work. Lorch’s
spectrum, however, ends near 10.1 MeV and does not
reach the kinematically possible maximum. While
Lorch’s data does not extend much below 2 MeV, he
8 10 12 mediate-energy neutrons and all calculations mentioned
here, with exception to that of 4C, reflect that trend.
Version 4C predicts an emission rate of 3.66  106 n/s,
En ¼ 5:4 MeV, and low-energy fraction of f ¼ 0:056: By
including the breakup neutrons, 5A predicts the same
yield but a lower value of En ¼ 4:06 MeV, based on the
increased value of f ¼ 0:224: The higher yield values
may be attributed to the source mixture that was near
ideal for the calculation but certainly less efficient in
reality. Contaminants such as americium (reported, but
not quantified) and other curium isotopes were also
omitted.
As an aside, several factors (e.g. isotopic composition)
affect the neutron spectrum’s shape and caution should
be exercised when predicting that of a curium source, as
the dominant source nuclide could be 244Cm in lieu of
this example’s sole 242Cm isotope. The spontaneous
fission rate per curie of 242Cm is three orders of
magnitude smaller than the (a; n) rate in such a source,
but is several percent of the (a; n) yield (e.g. 3–10%) for a
244
CmBe source (Kumar and Nagarajan, 1977; Capgras
et al., 1973). The average neutron energy is also a
function of the curium isotopic composition. The higher
a energies from 242Cm increase the spectrum’s low-
energy component and thus decrease the average En :
3.3. Americium beryllium simulation
As a final example, consider the accelerator simula-
tion of a 241AmBe neutron source (Geiger and Van der
Zwan, 1970) in which a 5.48 MeV a beam, equivalent to
the average a energy of AmBe sources, was incident
upon a thick beryllium target. The experiment illustrated
the origin of spectral structure in beryllium-type neutron
sources and tabulated data in 0.2 MeV steps, thus
providing convenient opportunity to test the ‘‘beam’’
option of SOURCES.
The experimental spectrum is shown in Fig. 8 along
with 56-group structure calculations from SOURCES
normalized to the peak near 3.5 MeV. Low-energy
neutron contributions in this experiment (f ¼ 0:17) were
estimated from previous work and are higher than 4C’s
value (f ¼ 0:06). The average neutron energy of the
simulated spectrum, En ¼ 4:29 MeV, compared to 4C’s
En ¼ 4:99 was seen to agree with other cited values of
En ¼ 4:4 and 4:20 (Geiger and Hargrove, 1964;

E.F. Shores et al. / Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158
Nachtigall, 1967). As expected, the 4C calculation yields
a higher value in the absence of the breakup’s low-
energy component. Consequently, 5A is much closer to
the experiment with En ¼ 4:38 MeV and f ¼ 0:14:
Moving from 4C to 5A, the difference in average
neutron energies decreased from 16% to 2% while that
in f decreased from 64% to 17%. Not reported in the
experiment, 5A’s calculated neutron production is
1.54  108 n/s mA, or 4.93  105 n/a particle.
4. Applications
An important quantity in radiological engineering
analyses (e.g. shielding evaluations or external dose
assessment) is radiation fluence. The fluence rate, or flux
density, F; is often converted to a dose quantity (e.g.
effective dose equivalent) for radiation protection
purposes by means of a fluence-to-dose conversion
factor. Such conversion coefficients are readily available
(ICRP, 1987) for a variety of radiations and exposure
geometries and thus provide a convenient methodology
by which to estimate dosimetric quantities. As an
example, consider four popular sets of neutron data
plotted in Fig. 9 that could be used in conjunction with
spectra from Figs. 6–8 to predict dosimetric informa-
tion.
While relatively constant at either end of the
energy spectrum, it is important to note the coefficient’s
region of change above 10 keV. From a neutron spectra
point of view, this low-energy region now includes
previously misappropriated neutrons and assigns coeffi-
cients that may be two orders of magnitude less than
those applied in combination with previous SOURCES
distributions. Those making similar calculations or
relying on neutron spectra from the literature that may
1.0E+03
Conversion Factor (x1e-6)
1.0E+02
(rem/hr)/(n/cm^2-sec)
1.0E+01
1.0E+00
1.0E-01
1.E-08
Fig. 9. Neutron fluence-to-dose conversion factors.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
157
not span lower energies (e.g. En o2 MeV) could mis-
represent values such as the spectrum-averaged fluence-
to-dose equivalent factors presented in Buckner and
Sims (1992).
As an example, consider effective dose equivalent
(HE ) rates calculated with ANSI/ANS-6.1.1-1991 con-
version factors for the three actinide-beryllium sources
described above. Using the SOURCES calculated
spectra in conjunction with a simple Monte Carlo
model, HE rates determined with the 4C data were
consistently higher than those from 5A: approximately
10%, 20%, and 37% for the AmBe, CmBe, and AcBe
sources, respectively.
5. Conclusions
Cross sections for a-induced reactions on 9Be have
been calculated using nuclear models at multiple
incident a energies from 0.1 to 10.0 MeV. Despite
limited agreement with experimental data, the predic-
tions have similar shape and are off by a scaling factor in
some cases indicating the promise of further work in this
area; additional cross-section calculations are planned.
This work is the first set of calculated cross sections for
the (a; a0 n) breakup reaction on beryllium and such a
light target tests the limits of GNASH as that code is
intended for medium to heavy targets. In the absence of
favorable cross-section calculations, branching fractions
were manufactured by linearly interpolating among a
limited breakup spectra cross-section set. Based on
comparison with three experiments, the proposed
version 5A reflects an improvement over 4C. This data
is hoped to be useful for a variety of radiation transport
calculations, especially those nuclear applications invol-
ving 9Be(a; n) reaction spectra.
ANSI 6.1.1 (1991)
ICRP 74 (1996)
1.E-06 1.E-04 1.E-02 1.E+00 1.E+02 1.E+04
En (MeV)
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
158 E.F. Shores et al. / Applied Radiation and Isotopes 59 (2003) 151–158
Acknowledgements
One of the authors (EFS) would like to thank P.G.
Young of Los Alamos National Laboratory for discus-
sions, contributions, and assistance with the GNASH
code; acknowledge helpful discussions with P. Talou,
and W.B. Wilson, also at Los Alamos; and express
appreciation to H.R. Krapfl for translating several
French papers from the literature.
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