The cross-section investigation of (n, α) reaction on chromium isotopes

Cross-sections of the ( n , α) reaction on chromium isotopes are of great importance for determining the radiation hardness of stainless steel, which is widely used in nuclear reactors. The EXFOR library contains a limited amount of the relevant experimental data, mainly for the reactions induced by neutrons with an energy around 14 MeV. There are no experimental data on the probability of the ( n , α) reaction at the fission neutron energies. In this work we present results of investigating the 50 Cr( n , α) and 52 Cr( n , α) reactions. It is shown that the ENDF/B VII library evaluations for the 50 Cr( n , α) reaction are about 20 times as high as our experimental data. In addition, a structure that was predicted in none of the libraries is observed in the excitation function of the 50 Cr( n , α) reaction. The 52 Cr( n , α) reaction cross-sections at reactor neutron energies are obtained for the first time.