New Resolved Resonance Region Evaluation for 63Cu and 65Cu for Nuclear Criticality Safety Program

Abstract

A new resolved resonance region evaluation of 63Cu and 65Cu was done in the energy region from 10-5 eV to 99.5 keV. The R-Matrix SAMMY method using the Reich-Moore approximation was used to create a new set of consistent resonance parameters. The new evaluation was based on three experimental transmission data sets; two measured at ORELA and one from MITR, and two radiative capture experimental data sets from GELINA. A total of 141 new resonances were identied for 63Cu and 117 for 65Cu. The corresponding set of external resonances for each isotope was based on the identied resonances above 99.5 keV from the ORELA transmission data. The negative external levels (bound levels) were determined to match the dierential thermal cross section measured at the MITR. Double dierential elastic scattering cross sections were calculated from the new set of resonance parameters. Benchmarking calculations were carried out on a set of ICSBEP benchmarks. This work is in support of the DOE Nuclear Criticality Safety Program.