Measurement of effective 98Mo(n,γ)99 Mo reaction cross-section in the epi-cadmium neutron flux produced by 10 MeV electron LINAC with Ta-BeO assembly

An experiment was carried out to study the feasibility of 99 Mo production using an electron accelerator based epi-cadmium neutron source. The neutrons were produced by the interaction of bremsstrahlung end-point energy of 10 MeV with BeO blocks and the neutrons thus produced were moderated using High Density Polyethylene blocks. Effective cross-section of 98 Mo(n,γ) 99 Mo reaction was measured using foil activation method. An enhancement in the effective cross-section due to resonances in the epi-cadmium region was observed. The photons and neutron production/transport in the experimental set-up were simulated using the FLUKA Monte Carlo code. The simulations were found to be in good agreement with the experimental findings.