Neutron production through α-induced nuclear reactions is relevant in several fields. Specifically, (α,n) reactions are interesting in nuclear astrophysics as a source of neutrons for the slow neutron capture nucleosynthesis (the s-process) [TAI16] and in the α-particle capture process (the so-called α-process) [WOO92, BLI17]. Other fields of interest include the neutron-induced background in...
The efficacy of the $s$-process in the production of heavy elements is influenced by a number of factors, including the number of neutrons available for neutron-capture reactions. Neutrons are produced by the $^{13}$C($\alpha,n$)$^{16}$O and $^{22}$Ne($\alpha,n$)$^{25}$Mg reactions, neutrons can be absorped by $^{16}$O to make $^{17}$O from which neutrons may be recycled through the...
Neutrons and gamma rays emitted from the ($a$,n) reaction are an important component of nondestructive assay techniques used in safeguards to determine enriched uranium and other actinide inventories within the nuclear fuel cycle. Uncertainties in the reaction cross section, total neutron yield, neutron spectrum, and gamma spectrum from these reactions can negatively impact the determination...
NeuCBOT, the Neutron Calculator Based On TALYS, is a tool for calculating ($\alpha$,n) neutron yields for arbitrary materials, given some activity of $\alpha$-emitting contaminants. It combines stopping power calculations from SRIM with ($\alpha$,n) cross section libraries calculated with TALYS to determine the neutron yield of materials with user-specified composition and contamination...
