Measurement of formation cross-section of 99 Mo from the 98 Mo(n,γ) and 100 Mo(n,2n) reactions.

The formation cross-section of medical isotope99 Mo from the98 Mo(n,γ) reaction at the neutron energy of 0.025eV and from the100 Mo(n,2n) reaction at the neutron energies of 11.9 and 15.75MeV have been determined by using activation and off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique. The thermal neutron energy of 0.025eV was used from the reactor critical facility at BARC, Mumbai, whereas the average neutron energies of 11.9 and 15.75MeV were generated using7 Li(p,n) reaction in the Pelletron facility at TIFR, Mumbai. The experimentally determined cross-sections were compared with the evaluated nuclear data libraries of ENDF/B-VII.1, CENDL-3.1, JENDL-4.0 and JEFF-3.2 and are found to be in close agreement. The100 Mo(n,2n)99 Mo reaction cross-sections were also calculated theoretically by using TALYS-1.8 and EMPIRE-3.2 computer codes and compared with the experimental data.