Cross sections of proton-induced neutron emission reactions on thorium and uranium at energies below 18 MeV

Experimental data on proton-induced neutron emission reactions in actinides are important for nuclear astrophysics, nuclear energy, and medical applications. Presently existing data on (p, xn) reactions in thorium and uranium at low energies range (E₏<200. 16em{0ex}MeV) are som scarce and often contradict each other. In this work, the cross sections of proton-induced ^232Th (p, n) ^232Pa, ^232Th (p, 3n) ^230Pa, ^238U (p, n) ^238Np, ^238U (p, 3n) ^236mNp, and ^238U (p, np) ^237U reactions are measured at the proton energy range 12--17 MeV using the stacked-foil technique and with the induced activation method. -ray spectroscopy is used to identify the resulting radionuclides and to determine their yields. In total, there are 21 cross sections determined in this work for the listed reactions. This new data set can help to clear up the discrepancies between existing data sets from different experiments, as well as to fill in the gap of missing low-energy data. The cross-section data are compared to the predictions of the nuclear reactions simulation code TALYS1. 96, using different combinations of options of several main ingredients of the code, such as the photon strength function, the optical model potential, the fission barrier, the nuclear level density, and the pre-equilibrium mechanism.