Chapter 4

Nuclear Processes

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• Nuclear reactions - those in which atomic nuclei
participate - may take place spontaneously, as in
radioactivity, or may be induced by bombardment
with a particle or ray.
• Nuclear reactions are much more energetic than
chemical reactions, but they obey the same physical
laws: conservation of momentum, energy, number of
particles, and charge.

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• The number of possible nuclear reactions is
extremely large, because there are
approximately 2000 known isotopes and
many particles that can either be projectiles or
products: photons, electrons, protons,
neutrons, alpha particles, deuterons, and
heavy charged particles.
• In this chapter, we will emphasize induced
reactions, especially those involving neutrons.
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 4.1 Transmutation of Elements
• Nuclear reactions may be written using a
general equation form

• All reactions obey four fundamental

governing laws:
– Conservation of nucleons:A1+A2=A3+A4
– Conservation of charge:Z1+Z2=Z3+Z4
– Conservation of momentum
– Conservation of total energy
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• The conversion of one element into another, a
process called transmutation, was first achieved in
1919 by Rutherford in England.
• He bombarded nitrogen atoms with α particles from
a radioactive source to produce an oxygen isotope
and a proton, according to the equation

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• We note that on both sides of the equation the
A values sum to 18 and the Z values total 9.
• Figure 4.1 shows Rutherford’s experiment. It
is difficult for the positively charged α
particle to enter the nitrogen nucleus because
of the force of electrical repulsion between
charged particles.
• The α particle thus must have several MeV of
energy.
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• Nuclear transmutations can also be achieved by charged
particles that are electrically accelerated to high speeds.
• The first such example discovered was the reaction

• Another reaction,

yields a gamma ray and an isotope of nitrogen.

• The latter decays with a half-life of 10 min, releasing a
positron, the positive counterpart of the electron.

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• Because the neutron is a neutral particle, it does not
experience electrostatic repulsion and can readily penetrate a
target nucleus.
• Neutrons are thus especially useful as projectiles to induce
reactions.
• Several examples are chosen on the basis of interest or
usefulness.
• The conversion of mercury into gold, the alchemist’s dream,
is described by

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[Link]

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 Platinum  Gold

[Link]

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• The production of cobalt-60 is governed by

• where a capture gamma ray is produced, and Co-60

is termed a neutron activation product.
• Neutron capture in cadmium, sometimes used in
nuclear reactor control rods, is given by

• A reaction that produces tritium, which may be a

fuel for controlled fusion reactors of the future, is

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• A shorthand notation is used to represent
nuclear reactions.
• Let an incoming particle a strike a target
nucleus X to produce a residual nucleus Y
and an outgoing particle b, with equation

a = incoming particle
X = target
Y = residual nucleus
b = outgoing particle
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• The reaction may be abbreviated X(a, b)Y,
where a and b stand for the neutron (n), alpha
particle (α), gamma ray (γ), proton (p),
deuteron (d), and so on.
• For example, Rutherford’s experiment can be
written 14N(α, p)17O and the reaction in
control rods 113Cd(n, γ)114Cd.
• The Z value can be omitted, because it is
unique to the chemical element.

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• The interpretation of nuclear reactions often
involves the concept of compound nucleus, C*.
• This intermediate stage is formed by the
combination of a projectile and target nucleus.
• The compound nucleus contains extra internal
energy of motion of the nucleons, called excitation
energy, as denoted by the asterisk.
• After a very short time (~10–14 s), C* breaks up into
the outgoing particle or ray and the residual nucleus.

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• The full nuclear reaction equation is therefore

• as depicted in Figure 4.2. For reactions at low

energy, less than 10 MeV, the same
compound nucleus could be formed by
several different pairs of interacting nuclei
and could decay into several different pairs of
final products.
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• The reaction equations can be used to calculate
balances in properties such as mass–energy,
visualizing conditions before and after.
• In place of the symbols, the atomic masses are
inserted.
• Strictly, the masses of the nuclei should be used, but
in most reactions, the same number of electrons
appears on both sides of the equation and cancels
out.

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• In the case of reactions that produce a
positron, however, either nuclear masses or
atomic masses with the subtraction of the
mass–energy required to create an electron-
positron pair should be used, 0.0011 amu or
1.02 MeV (or 2 x 0.511 MeV where 0.511 is
the electron rest mass).

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 4.2 Energy Conservation
• The conservation of total energy is a firm requirement for any
nuclear reaction, such that the sum of the reactant energies
must equal the sum of the reaction product energies

• For an X(a, b)Y reaction the conservation of energy is simply

• Recalling from Section 1.5 that the total energy is the sum of
the rest mass energy E0 and the kinetic energy EK, the above
expression can be rewritten as

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• or in terms of conservation of mass–energy

• Oftentimes, the target nucleus X is stationary

such that its kinetic energy is zero.

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• The reaction energy conservation also provides us the ability
to calculate the energy either emitted by a nuclear reaction or
required to cause the reaction.
• We shall refer to this energy as the reaction Q value.
• Rearranging Equation (4.14) provides the definition of the Q
value

• From the grouping of terms, we realize that Equation (4.15)

can be written in general as

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• The utility of these two formulas is immediately evident as
the reactant masses are known and thereby permit direct
calculation of Q.
• Thereafter, the combined kinetic energies of the products are
then obtainable.
• A reaction that produces energy is exothermic, whereas a
reaction requiring input energy to occur is said to be
endothermic.
• The Q value allows us to determine the reaction type

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• We seek exoergic reactions such as fission and fusion to
provide power sources.
• Because radioactive decay is a spontaneous process that
occurs without energy input, we surmise that all decay
reactions are exothermic.
• For endothermic reactions to occur, the needed energy must
be brought to the reaction by the reactant kinetic energy.
• In fact, the incoming particle must meet or exceed the
kinematic threshold energy of

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• Hence, the particle must bring more energy than |Q|.
• If the incident particle energy were simply equal to
Q, then the reaction could occur, but conservation of
momentum would be violated since the product
kinetic energies (and velocities) would be zero.
• If the energy of the incident particle is too low, the
projectile will merely be scattered by the target.

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• In addition, if the incoming particle is positively
charged, then the nucleus repels the projectile.
• Therefore, the Coulombic threshold (see Exercise
4.22) must also be surpassed

• Overall, for a reaction to occur, Ea > Eth and Ea > Ec;

see Table 4.1

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 4.3 Momentum Conservation
• The calculations just completed tell us the total
kinetic energy of the product particles but do not
reveal how much each has or what the speeds are.
• To find this information we must apply the principle
of conservation of momentum.
• Recall that the linear momentum p of a material
particle of mass m and speed v is

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• This relation is correct in both the classical
and relativistic senses.
• The total vector momentum of the interacting
particles before and after the collision is

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• For Example 4.1 in which a very slow neutron
strikes a hydrogen atom at rest, we can assume the
initial momentum is zero.
• If it is to be zero finally, the 21H and γ-ray must fly
apart with equal magnitudes of momentum pD = pγ.
• The momentum of a γ-ray having the speed of light
c may be written pγ = mc if we regard the mass as an
effective value, related to the γ energy Eγ by
Einstein’s formula E=mc2
• Thus,

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• Most of the 2.22-MeV energy release of the neutron capture
reaction goes to the γ-ray, as shown in Exercise 4.5.
• Assuming that to be correct, we can estimate the effective
mass of this γ-ray.
• It is close to
mγ = Eg/c2 = (2.22 MeV)/(931.5 MeV/u) =0.00238 amu
• which is very small compared with 2.014 amu for the
deuterium.
• Then from the momentum balance, we see that the speed of
recoil of the deuterium is much smaller than the speed of
light.

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• The calculation of the energies of the two a particles of
Example 4.2 is a little complicated even for the case in which
they separate along the same line that the proton entered.
• The particle speeds of interest are low enough that relativistic
mass variation with speed is small, and thus the classical
formula for kinetic energy can be used, EK =1⁄2m0v2.
• If we let m be the α particle mass and v1 and v2 be their
speeds, with pH the proton momentum, we must solve the two
equations

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 4.4 Reaction Rates
• When any two particles approach each other,
their mutual influence depends on the nature
of the force between them.
• Two electrically charged particles obey
Coulomb’s relation

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• where the q’s are the amounts of charge; ε0 is
the permittivity of free space; and r is the
distance of separation of centers.
• There will be some influence no matter how
far they are apart.
• However, two atoms, each of which is neutral
electrically, will not interact until they get
close to one another (≅10–10 m).
• The special force between nuclei is limited
still further (≅10–15 m).
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• Although we cannot see nuclei, we imagine them to
be spheres with a certain radius.
• To estimate that radius, we need to probe with
another particle—a proton, an electron, or a γ-ray.
• But the answer will depend on the projectile used
and its speed, and thus it is necessary to specify the
apparent radius and cross-sectional area for the
particular reaction.
• This leads to the concept of cross section as a mea-
sure of the chance of collision.

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• We can perform a set of imaginary experiments that
will clarify the idea of cross section.
• Picture, as in Figure 4.3(A), a tube of end area 1 cm2
containing only one target particle.
• A single projectile is injected parallel to the tube
axis, but its exact location is not specified.
• It is clear that the chance of collision, denoted by σ
(sigma) and called the microscopic cross section, is
the ratio of the target area to the area of the tube,
which is 1 cm2.
Units of cross section: 1 barn = 10–24 cm2
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• Now let us inject a continuous stream of particles of
speed v into the empty tube (see Figure 4.3(B))
• In a time of 1 second, each of the particles has
moved along a distance v cm (Figure 4.3(C))
• All of them in a column of volume (1 cm2) (v cm) =
v cm3 will sweep past a point at which we watch
each second.
• If there are n particles per cubic centimeter, then the
number per unit time that crosses any unit area
perpendicular to the stream direction is nv, called the
current density j (j=nv).
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• Finally, in Figure 4.3(D) we fill each unit volume of
the tube with N targets, each of area σ as seen by
incoming projectiles (we presume that the targets do
not “shadow” each other).
• If we focus attention on a unit volume, there is a
total target area of Nσ.
• This product is labeled Σ (capital sigma), the
macroscopic cross section, referring to the large-
scale properties of the medium

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• Again, we inject the stream of projectiles.
• In a time of 1 second, the number of them that pass
through the target volume is nv, and because the
chance of collision of each with one target atom is σ,
the number of collisions is nv Nσ. We can thus
define the reaction rate per unit volume,

• Then the reaction rate per cubic centimeter is simply

R = j Σ.
• We can easily check that the units of j are cm–2 s–1
and those of Σ are cm–1, so that the unit of R is cm–3
s–1.
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• In a different experiment, we release particles in a medium
and allow them to make many collisions with those in the
material.
• In a short time, the directions of motion are random, as
shown in Figure 4.4.
• We will look only at particles of the same speed v, of which
there are n per unit volume.
• The product nv in this situation is no longer called current
density but is given a different name, the flux, symbolized by
Φ (phi).
• If we place a unit area anywhere in the region, there will be
flows of particles across it each second from both directions,
but it is clear that the current densities will now be less than
nv.
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• It turns out that they are each nv/4, and the total
current density is nv/2.
• The rate of reaction of particles with those in the
medium can be found by adding up the effects of
individual projectiles.
• Each behaves the same way in interacting with the
targets, regardless of direction of motion.
• The reaction rate is again nv Nσ or, for this random
motion,

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• The random motion of particles can be simulated
mathematically by the use of random numbers, which form a
collection of decimal fractions that are independent and are
uniformly distributed over the range 0 to 1.
• They are useful for the study of neutron and gamma ray
processes, both of which are governed by statistics.
• This Monte Carlo (named after the gambling casino in
Monaco) approach is at the heart of various radiation
transport computer codes, such as MCNP (Monte Carlo n-
particle transport code).

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Reactor Modeling

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• When a particle such as a neutron collides with a target
nucleus, there is a certain chance of each of several reactions.
• The simplest is elastic scattering, in which the neutron is
visualized as bouncing off the nucleus and moving in a new
direction with a change in energy.
• Such a collision, governed by classical physics, is
predominant in light elements.
• In the inelastic scattering collision, an important process for
fast neutrons in heavy elements, the neutron becomes a part
of the nucleus; its energy provides excitation; and a neutron
is released.
• The cross section σs is the chance of a collision that results in
neutron scattering.
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• The neutron may instead be absorbed by the
nucleus, with cross section σa.
• Because σa and σs are chances of reaction,
their sum is the chance for collision or total
cross section

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 4.5 Particle Attenuation
• Visualize an experiment in which a stream of
particles of common speed and direction is allowed
to strike the plane surface of a substance as in Figure
4.5.
• Collisions with the target atoms in the material will
continually remove projectiles from the stream,
which will thus diminish in strength with distance, a
process we label attenuation.

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• If the current density incident on the
substance at position z=0 is labeled j0, the
current of those not having made any
collision on penetrating to a depth z is given
by

• where Σt is the total macroscopic cross

section

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• The similarity in form to the exponential for
radioactive decay is noted, and one can deduce by
analogy that the half-thickness, the distance required
to reduce j to half its initial value, is

• Another more frequently used quantity is the mean

free path λ, the average distance a particle travels
before making a collision.

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• By analogy with the mean life for radioactivity, we can
write

• where k signifies a particular reaction type.

• For instance, λa is the absorption mean free path (mfp).
• Thus, on average, scattering and absorption of neutrons
is determined by the macroscopic cross sections Σs and
Σa.
• For a given neutron, however, the number of scatterings
before being absorbed can vary widely.

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• The cross sections for atoms interacting with their own
kind at the energies corresponding to room temperature
conditions are of the order of 10–15 cm2.
• If we equate this area to πr2, the calculated radii are of
the order of 10–8 cm.
• This is in rough agreement with the theoretical radius of
electron motion in the hydrogen atom 0.53x10–8 cm.
• On the other hand, the cross sections for neutrons
interacting with nuclei by scattering collisions, those in
which the neutron is deflected in direction and loses
energy, are usually very much smaller than those for
atoms.
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• For the case of 1 eV neutrons in hydrogen
with a scattering cross section of 20 barns
(i.e., 20 x10–24 cm2), one deduces a radius of
approximately 2.5 x10–12 cm.
• These results correspond to our earlier
observation in Section 2.6 that the nucleus is
thousands of times smaller than the atom.

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 4.6 Neutron Cross Sections
• The cross section for neutron absorption in materials
depends greatly on the isotope bombarded and on
the neutron energy.
• For consistent comparison and use, the cross section
is often cited at 0.0253 eV, corresponding to neutron
speed 2200 m/s.
• Table 4.2 lists capture cross section σγ values for a
number of isotopes at that energy.
• The dependence of the absorption cross section (and
its constituents such as capture and fission) on
energy is of two types.
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• The first is called 1/v, in which σa varies inversely with
neutron speed,

where σa0 is the cross section at v0, typically taken as 2200m/s.

• The second is termed resonance, in which there is a very
strong absorption at certain neutron energies.
• Many materials exhibit both variations. Figure 4.6 shows the
10B absorption cross section, which displays the 1/v behavior

from 10–5 to 105 eV but no resonances.

• The use of the logarithmic plot enables one to display the
large range of cross section over the large range of energy of
interest.
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• Neutron scattering cross sections are comparatively similar
for all elements and have less variation with neutron energy.
• Figure 4.7 shows the trend of σs for hydrogen-1 as in water.
• Over a large range of neutron energy (~ 0.1 eV to 10 keV),
the scattering cross section is nearly constant, dropping off in
the million-electronvolt (MeV) region.
• This high-energy range is of special interest, because
neutrons produced by the fission process have such high
energy values.

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• The competition between scattering and absorption for
neutrons in a medium is statistical in nature.
• The number of scattering collisions that occur before an
absorption removes the neutron may be none, one, a few,
or many.
• Even within absorption and scattering, there is further
statistical competition between subdivisions of
absorption and scattering.
• For instance, scattering can be either elastic, for which
kinetic energy, in addition to total energy, is conserved,
or inelastic, for which kinetic energy is imparted to the
target nucleus, which is left in an excited state.
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• Similarly, absorption may include radiative capture, as
from an (n, γ) reaction, fission, or other reactions in
which a neutron enters the nucleus but another particle is
expelled, as associated with reactions such as (n, p), (n,
d), (n, t), and (n, α).
• The reaction hierarchy shown in Figure 4.8 also directly
applies to both microscopic and macroscopic cross
sections

• where σγ and σf are for capture and fission, and σe and σi

are for elastic (n, n) and inelastic (n, n’) scattering,
respectively.
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• Figure 4.9 shows four cross sections for U-
238: (1) total σt, (2) elastic scattering σe, (3)
radiative capture σγ, and (4) fission σf.
• As seen, both the scattering and capture cross
sections exhibit resonances in the
intermediate energy region from about 10–5 to
0.02 MeV.
• It is noteworthy that the fission cross section
does not become significant until 1 MeV.
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• Although this section focuses on neutron cross sections, the
terminology is just as applicable to other particles causing
nuclear reactions.
• For instance, the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding Earth
are laden with energetic protons.
• These protons may undergo reactions, such as (p, γ) and (p,
α), with satellite materials.

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 4.7 Neutron Migration
• When fast neutrons, those of energy of the order of 2
MeV, are introduced into a medium, they make
inelastic or elastic collisions with nuclei.
• On each elastic collision, neutrons are deflected in
direction, they lose energy, and they tend to migrate
away from their origin.
• Each neutron has a unique history, and it is
impractical to keep track of all of them. Instead, we
seek to deduce average behavior.

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• First, we note that the elastic scattering of a neutron with
an initially stationary nucleus of mass number A causes
a reduction in neutron energy from E0 to E and a change
of direction through an angle θ (theta), as shown in
Figure 4.10.
• The length of arrows indicates the speeds of the
particles.
• The example shown is but one of a great variety of
possible results of scattering collisions.
• For each final energy, there is a unique angle of
scattering, and vice versa, but the occurrence of a
particular E and θ pair depends on chance.
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• The neutron may bounce directly backward,
θ=180°, dropping down to a minimum energy
αE0, where

• or it may be undeflected, θ=0°, and retain its

initial energy E0, or it may be scattered
through any other angle, with corresponding
energy loss.
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• The average and these extreme energies of the scattered neutron
are summarized in

• Hence, the energy loss of a neutron in an elastic collision with a

nucleus can range from zero to E0 (1-α).
• For the special case of a hydrogen nucleus as scattering target,
A=1 and α=0, so that the neutron loses all of its energy in a
head-on collision.
• As we will see later, this makes water a useful material in a
nuclear reactor.
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• The average elastic scattering collision is
described by two quantities that depend only
on the nucleus, not on the neutron energy.
• The first is μ�, the average cosine of the
scattering angles, given by

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• For hydrogen μ� is 2/3, meaning that the neutron tends to be
scattered in the forward direction; for a very heavy nucleus
such as uranium μ� is near zero, meaning that the scattering is
almost equally likely in each direction.
• Forward scattering results in an enhanced migration of
neutrons from their point of appearance in a medium.
• Their free paths are effectively longer, and it is conventional
to use the transport mean free path

instead of λs to account for the effect.

• We note that λtr is always the larger than λs.

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• The second quantity that describes the average
collision is ξ (xi), the average change in the natural
logarithm of the energy, given by

• For hydrogen, ξ is exactly 1, the largest possible

value, meaning that hydrogen is a good moderator
for neutrons, its nuclei permitting the greatest
neutron energy loss; for a heavy element, ξ ≅
2/(A+2/3), which is much smaller than 1.

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• To find how many collisions C are required
on average to slow neutrons from an initial
(higher) energy E0 to a final (lower) energy
EF, we use

• The numerator of the above relation is known

as the lethargy (u).

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• Again, we see the virtue of hydrogen as a moderator.
• The fact that hydrogen has a scattering cross section
of 20 barns over a wide range, whereas carbon has a
σs of only 4.8 barns, implies that collisions are more
frequent and the slowing takes place in a smaller
region.
• The only disadvantage is that hydrogen has a larger
thermal neutron absorption cross section σa, 0.332
barns versus 0.0035 barns for carbon.

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• The movement of individual neutrons through a
moderator during slowing consists of free flights,
interrupted frequently by collisions that cause
energy loss.
• Picture, as in Figure 4.11, a fast neutron starting at a
point and migrating outward.
• At some distance r away, it arrives at the thermal
energy.
• Other neutrons become thermal at different
distances, depending on their particular histories.

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r

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• If we were to measure all of their r values and form
the average of r2, the result would be r2 = 6 τ, where
τ (tau) is called the Fermi “age” of the neutron.
• Approximate values of the age for various
moderators, as obtained from experiments, are listed
in Table 4.4.
• We thus note that water is a much better agent for
neutron slowing than is graphite because of the
larger scattering cross section and energy loss.

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• As neutrons slow into the energy region that is
comparable to thermal agitation of the moderator
atoms, they may either lose or gain energy on
collision.
• Members of a group of neutrons have various speeds
at any instant and thus the group behaves as a gas in
Maxwellian distribution, as was shown in Figure 2.2
and discussed in Section 2.2.
• The neutron group has a temperature T that is close
to that of the medium in which they are found.

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• Thus if the moderator is at room temperature
20 °C, or 293 K, the most likely neutron
speed from Equation (2.5) is 2200 m/s.
• This corresponds to a kinetic energy of
0.0253 eV.
• The neutrons are said to be thermal, in
contrast to fast or intermediate.

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• Another parameter that characterizes neutron
migration while at thermal energy is the
diffusion length, symbolized by L.
• By analogy to the slowing process, the
average square distance between origin and
absorption is given by r2 = 6 L2.
• Table 4.4 lists approximate values of L for
three moderators.

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• According to diffusion theory (see Section
19.1), the diffusion length is

• where the diffusion coefficient is

• This shows that the addition of an absorber to

pure moderator reduces the distance neutrons
travel, as expected.

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• The process of diffusion of gas molecules is familiar to us.
• If a bottle of perfume is opened, the scent is quickly
observed, because the molecules of the substance migrate
away from the source.
• Because neutrons in large numbers behave as a gas, the
descriptions of gas diffusion may be applied.
• The flow of neutrons through a medium at a location is
proportional to the way the concentration of neutrons varies,
in particular to the negative of the slope of the neutron
number density.
• We can guess that the larger the neutron speed ν and the
larger the transport mean free path λtr, the more neutron flow
will take place.
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• Theory and measurement show that if n varies in the z-
direction (refer to Figure 4.5-next slide), the net flow of
neutrons across a unit area each second, the net current
density, is

• This is called Fick’s law of diffusion, derived long ago for

the description of gases.
• It applies if absorption is small compared with scattering.
• In terms of the flux ϕ = nv and the diffusion coefficient
D=λtr/3, this may be written compactly as j= -DΦ’ where Φ’
is the slope of the neutron flux.

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