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Chapter 5
Nuclear Reactions Induced
by 14 MeV Neutrons
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Neutrons may interact with matter in one or more of the following reactions:
1. Elastic scattering: (n,n) reaction: A neutron collides with the atomic
nucleus and then loses its kinetic energy. It should be noted that the
neutron loses less kinetic energy when it collides with a heavy nucleus.
In contrast, it loses more kinetic energy when it collides with a light
nucleus. Hydrogen (
1
H) is, therefore, the most eective neutron mod-
erator because it is the lightest nucleus having a mass almost the same
as a neutron. Elastic scattering is most important in the productio