Measurements of the ⁵⁹Ni(n,α) Cross Section for Thermal Neutrons

The (n,α) reaction cross section for ⁵⁹Ni has been measured at thermal-neutron energies. The experiment utilized dielectric, alpha-particle track detectors and a known thermal-neutron flux. Twelve measurements were made with nickel samples of different thickness and ⁵⁹Ni enrichment and with track detectors of varying efficiency. The average of all measurements gave the result σ(n,α) (2200 m/sec) = 13.7 ± 1.2 b.