Measurements of 232Th(n,2n) 231Th reaction cross-sections in the neutron energy of 12–18.5 MeV

At the 3MV tandem accelerator of Sichuan University, monoenergetic neutrons were generated through the T(d,n)4He reaction by bombarding a Tritium–Titanium (T–Ti) target with a 2 MeV deuterium beam. The neutron activation method and offline gamma-ray spectroscopy were utilized to measure the cross sections of the 232Th(n,2n)231Th reaction at neutron energies of 12.49 ± 0.33 MeV, 16.38 ± 0.60 MeV, and 18.10 ± 0.23 MeV. Factors such as neutron scattering, neutron flux fluctuation, cascade coincidence effects in gamma-ray measurements, and gamma-ray self-absorption were analytically corrected. The TALYS-1.9 program was used to calculate the reaction cross sections of 232Th(n,2n)231Th within the 6–20 MeV neutron energy range. The experimental data were compared and analyzed against existing experimental data, evaluated data from CENDL-3.2, ENDF/B-VIII, JENDL-5, ROSFONDR-2010 and theoretical values computed by TALYS-1.9.