PANDORA, Plasmas for Astrophysics, Nuclear Decays Observation and Radiation for Archaeometry, is planned as a new facility based on a state-of-the-art plasma trap confining energetic plasma for performing interdisciplinary research in the fields of Nuclear Astrophysics, Astrophysics, Plasma Physics and Applications in Material Science and Archaeometry: the plasmas become the environment for measuring, for the first time, nuclear decay rates in stellar-like condition (such as 7Be decay and beta-decay involved in s-process nucleosynthesis), especially as a function of the ionization state of the plasma ions. These studies will give important contributions for addressing several astrophysical issues in both stellar and primordial nucleosynthesis environment (e.g., determination of solar neutrino flux and 7Li Cosmological Problem), moreover the confined energetic plasma will be a unique light source for high-performance stellar spectroscopy measurements in the visible, UV and X-ray domains, offering advancements in observational astronomy. As to magnetic fields, the experimental validation of theoretical first- and second-order Landé factors will drive the layout of next-generation polarimetric units for the high-resolution spectrograph of the future giant telescopes. In PANDORA new plasma heating methods will be explored, that will push forward the ion beam output, in terms of extracted intensity and charge states. More, advanced and optimized injection methods of ions in an ECR plasma will be experimented, with the aim to optimize its capture efficiency. This will be applied to the ECR-based Charge Breeding technique, that will improve the performances of the SPES ISOL-facility at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro-INFN. Finally, PANDORA will be suitable for energy conversion, making the plasma a source of high-intensity electromagnetic radiation, for applications in material science and archaeometry.

Fission cross sections are typically measured relative to 235U(n,f), since the neutron-induced fission cross section of 235U is a standard at thermal energy and between 0.15 MeV and 200 MeV. However, above this energy no data are available, so that evaluations can only be based on theoretical calculations. The n_TOF facility offers a good opportunity to measure the 235U(n,f) cross section relative to the 1H(n,n)1H reaction up to 1 GeV. We propose to perform such a measurement using a parallel plate counter and a fission ionization chamber for the detection of fission events in combination with recoil proton telescopes to measure the reference incident neutron flux. Requested protons: 41018 protons on target Experimental Area: EAR1

We propose to measure the neutron capture cross-section of the stable isotopes 152Gd, 154Gd, 156Gd, 158Gd and 160Gd. This experiment aims at the improvement of existing data of interest for nuclear astrophysics. The measurement will be carried out under similar conditions of previous measurements successfully completed at n TOF with an optimized detection setup: a cutting-edge detector especially designed for accurate (n,γ) measurement will be exploited in combination with a series of isotopically enriched samples. Concerning the correction related to isotopic impurities, we count on taking advantage of the result of the measurement on the 155Gd(n, γ) and 157Gd(n, γ), subject of a different proposal. Requested protons: 3.3 × 1018 protons on target Experimental Area: n TOF EAR-1 (185 m flight path)

New C6D6 detectors: reduced neutron sensitivity and improved safety P.F. Mastinu, R. Baccomi, E. Berthoumieux, D. Cano-Ott, F. Gramegna, C. Guerrero, C. Massimi, P.M. Milazzo, F.Mingrone, J. Praena, G. Prete, A.R. Garcia 1 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy 2 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Trieste, Italy 3 CEA, Irfu, Gif-sur-Yvette, France 4 Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Technologicas, Madrid, Spain 5 CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Resarch, Geneva, Switzerland 6 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita di Bologna and Sezione INFN di Bologna, Italy 7 Universidad de Sevilla, Spain (The n_TOF Collaboration, http://cern.ch/nTOF)

The U plays the essential role of fissile nucleus in the Th-U fuel cycle, which has been proposed as a safer and cleaner alternative to the U-Pu fuel cycle. Considered the scarce data available to assess the capture cross section, a measurement was proposed and successfully performed at the n TOF facility at CERN using the 4π Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC). The measurement was extremely difficult due to the need to accurately distinguish between capture and fission γ-rays without any additional discrimination tool and the measured capture cross section showed a significant disagreement in magnitude when compared with the ENDF/B-VII.1 library despite the agreement in shape. We propose a new measurement that is aimed at providing a higher level of discrimination between competing nuclear reactions, to extend the neutron energy range and to obtain more precise and accurate data, thus fulfilling the demands of the “NEA High Priority Nuclear Data Request List”. The setup is envisaged as a combination of the 4π Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC) with MicroMegas (μMGAS) fission detectors. This setup configuration has been tested successfully in 2011 and proven to be adequate for performing measurements where both capture and fission channels are open. Additionally, the upgrade n TOF Experimental Area 1 (EAR1) which is now a ”Work Sector Type A”, allow us to measure radioactive samples without the need to encapsulate them in a thick titanium canning reducing significantly the scattering background. The measurement will provide neutron-induced capture and fission cross sections as well very valuable information on the distribution of energies and multiplicities of the prompt γ-rays emitted after capture and fission reactions.

New C6D6 detectors: reduced neutron sensitivity and improved safety P.F. Mastinu, R. Baccomi, E. Berthoumieux, D. Cano-Ott, F. Gramegna, C. Guerrero, C. Massimi, P.M. Milazzo, F.Mingrone, J. Praena, G. Prete, A.R. Garcia 1 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy 2 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Trieste, Italy 3 CEA, Irfu, Gif-sur-Yvette, France 4 Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Technologicas, Madrid, Spain 5 CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Resarch, Geneva, Switzerland 6 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita di Bologna and Sezione INFN di Bologna, Italy 7 Universidad de Sevilla, Spain (The n_TOF Collaboration, http://cern.ch/nTOF)

New C6D6 detectors: reduced neutron sensitivity and improved safety P.F. Mastinu, R. Baccomi, E. Berthoumieux, D. Cano-Ott, F. Gramegna, C. Guerrero, C. Massimi, P.M. Milazzo, F.Mingrone, J. Praena, G. Prete, A.R. Garcia 1 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy 2 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Trieste, Italy 3 CEA, Irfu, Gif-sur-Yvette, France 4 Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Technologicas, Madrid, Spain 5 CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Resarch, Geneva, Switzerland 6 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita di Bologna and Sezione INFN di Bologna, Italy 7 Universidad de Sevilla, Spain (The n_TOF Collaboration, http://cern.ch/nTOF)

We propose to measure the (n, γ) cross sections of the isotopes Ge. Neutron induced reactions on Ge are of importance for the astrophysical slow neutron capture process, which is responsible for forming about half of the overall elemental abundances heavier than Fe. The neutron capture cross section on Ge affects the abundances produced in this process for a number of heavier isotopes up to a mass number of A = 90. Additionally, neutron capture on Ge is of interest for low background experiments involving Ge detectors. Experimental cross section data presently available for Ge(n, γ) are scarce and cover only a fraction of the neutron energy range of interest. (n, γ) cross sections will be measured in the full energy range from 25 meV to about 200 keV at n TOF EAR-1. Requested protons: 12× 10 protons on target

The neutron time of flight (n-TOF) facility at CERN is a spallation neutron source with white neutron energy spectrum (from thermal to several GeV), covering the full energy range of interest for nuclear astrophysics, in particular for measurements of the neutron capture cross section required in s-process nucleosynthesis. This contribution presents an overview on the astrophysical program carried on at the n-TOF facility, the main results and their implications.

C. Lederer,1,* N. Colonna,2 C. Domingo-Pardo,3 F. Gunsing,4 F. Käppeler,5 C. Massimi,6 A. Mengoni,7,8 A. Wallner,1 U. Abbondanno,9 G. Aerts,4 H. Álvarez,10 F. Álvarez-Velarde,11 S. Andriamonje,4 J. Andrzejewski,12 P. Assimakopoulos,13,† L. Audouin,14 G. Badurek,15 M. Barbagallo,2 P. Baumann,16 F. Bečvář,17 F. Belloni,9 E. Berthoumieux,4 M. Calviani,8 F. Calviño,18 D. Cano-Ott,11 R. Capote,7,19 C. Carrapiço,20,4 A. Carrillo de Albornoz,20 P. Cennini,8 V. Chepel,21 E. Chiaveri,8 G. Cortes,22 A. Couture,23 J. Cox,23 M. Dahlfors,8 S. David,14 I. Dillmann,5 R. Dolfini,24 W. Dridi,4 I. Duran,10 C. Eleftheriadis,25 M. Embid-Segura,11 L. Ferrant,14,† A. Ferrari,8 R. Ferreira-Marques,21 L. Fitzpatrick,8 H. Frais-Koelbl,7 K. Fujii,9 W. Furman,26 I. Goncalves,21 E. González-Romero,11 A. Goverdovski,27 F. Gramegna,28 E. Griesmayer,7 C. Guerrero,11 B. Haas,29 R. Haight,30 M. Heil,31 A. Herrera-Martinez,8 M. Igashira,32 S. Isaev,14 E. Jericha,15 Y. Kadi,8 D. Karadimos,13 D. Karamanis,13 M. Kerveno,16 V. Ketlerov,26 P. Koehler,33 V. Konovalov,25 E. Kossionides,34 M. Krtička,17 C. Lampoudis,25,4 H. Leeb,15 A. Lindote,21 I. Lopes,21 R. Losito,8 M. Lozano,19 S. Lukic,16 J. Marganiec,12 L. Marques,20 S. Marrone,2 T. Martı́nez,11 P. Mastinu,28 E. Mendoza,11 P. M. Milazzo,9 C. Moreau,9 M. Mosconi,5 F. Neves,21 H. Oberhummer,15 S. O’Brien,23 M. Oshima,35 J. Pancin,4 C. Papachristodoulou,13 C. Papadopoulos,36 C. Paradela,10 N. Patronis,13 A. Pavlik,1 P. Pavlopoulos,37 L. Perrot,4 M. T. Pigni,15 R. Plag,5 A. Plompen,38 A. Plukis,4 A. Poch,22 J. Praena,19 C. Pretel,22 J. Quesada,19 T. Rauscher,39 R. Reifarth,30 M. Rosetti,40 C. Rubbia,24 G. Rudolf,16 P. Rullhusen,38 J. Salgado,20 C. Santos,20 L. Sarchiapone,8 R. Sarmento,20 I. Savvidis,25 C. Stephan,14 G. Tagliente,2 J. L. Tain,3 D. Tarrı́o,10 L. Tassan-Got,14 L. Tavora,20 R. Terlizzi,2 G. Vannini,6 P. Vaz,20 A. Ventura,40 D. Villamarin,11 V. Vlachoudis,8 R. Vlastou,36 F. Voss,5 S. Walter,5 H. Wendler,8 M. Wiescher,23 and K. Wisshak5 (n TOF Collaboration ‡ ) 1University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Vienna, Austria 2Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Bari, Italy 3Instituto de Fı́sica Corpuscular, CSIC-Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain 4CEA/Saclay, IRFU, Gif-sur-Yvette, France 5Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Campus Nord, Institut für Kernphysik, Karlsruhe, Germany 6Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Bologna, and Sezione INFN di Bologna, Bologna, Italy 7Nuclear Data Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria 8CERN, Geneva, Switzerland 9Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trieste, Italy 10Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain 11Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Mediosample-independentales y Tecnologicas, Madrid, Spain 12University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland 13University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece 14Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3, IPN, Orsay, France 15Atominstitut der Österreichischen Universitäten, Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria 16Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3, IReS, Strasbourg, France 17Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic 18Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain 19Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain 20Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear (ITN), Lisbon, Portugal 21LIP-Coimbra and Departamento de Fisica da Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal 22Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain 23University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA 24Università degli Studi Pavia, Pavia, Italy 25Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece 26Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia 27Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Kaluga Region, Obninsk, Russia 28Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Legnaro, Italy 29Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3, CENBG, Bordeaux, France 30Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA 31GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany 32Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan 33Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA 34NCSR, Athens, Greece 35Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki, Japan

Precise measurements of the neutron capture cross sections of nuclei relevant for the thorium-based nuclear fuel cycle are of great interest for applied physics. Specifically, a more detailed knowledge of the (n, ) cross section for the isotopes Th, Pa, U and U is required for the possible implementation of the thorium fuel cycle in existing and innovative nuclear power devices. From a fundamental physics point of view precise measurements of the Th(n, ) cross section are desirable for the study of parity non-conserving (PNC) effects in nuclei. In particular they would lead to a refined description of low-energy resonances and would allow an improved estimation of the mean value of PNC matrix elements. The high radioactivity stemming from the decay products of these isotopes has very much hindered or made impossible accurate capture measurements in the past. A significantly better situation is given at the CERN-nTOF facility which has a very favorable duty cycle for measurements on radioactive targets. We would like to make use of this advantage and propose the measurement of the cross sections of Th(n, ), Pa(n, ), U(n, ) and U(n, ) at the CERN-nTOF facility. The proposed experiment is part of the scientific programme of the contract FIKW-CT-2000-00107 between the European Commission and the participating institutes. EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH CERN-INTC-2002-013 INTC-P-154 04 April 2002 U. ABBONDANNO, G. AERTS, S. ANDRIAMONJE, J. ANDRZEJEWSKI, A. ANGELOPOULOS , P. ASSIMAKOPOULOS, C-O. BACRI, G. BADUREK, E. BERTHOUMIEUX, P. BAUMANN, H. BEER, J. BENLLIURE, B. BERTHIER, I. BONDARENKO, C. BORCEA, A. J. J. BOS, E. BOSCOLO-MARCHI, N. BUSTREO, F. CALVINO, D. CANO-OTT, R. CAPOTE, P. CARLSON, G. CHARPAK, N. CHAUVIN, P. CENNINI, V. CHEPEL, N. COLONNA, G. CORTES, D. CORTINA, F. CORVI, A. CUSMANO, M. DAHLFORS, D. DAMIANOGLOU, S. DAVID, E. DIMOVASILI, C. DOMINGO, A. DOROSHENKO, I. DURAN-ESCRIBANO, C. ELEFTHERIADIS , M. EMBID, L. FERRANT, A. FERRARI, R. FERREIRAMARQUES, H. FRAIS-KOELBL, W. FURMAN, B. FURSOV, J. A. GARZON, I. GIOMATARIS, Y. GLEDENOV, I. F. GONÇALVES, E. GONZALEZ-ROMERO, A. GOVERDOVSKI, F. GRAMEGNA, E. GRIESMAYER, F. GUNSING, R. HAIGHT, M. HEIL, A. HERRERA-MARTINEZ , P. HOLLANDER, K. G. IOANNIDES, P. IOANNOU, S. ISAEV, E. JERICHA, Y. KADI, F. KAEPPELER , D. KARADIMOS, D. KARAMANIS, A. KAYUKOV, L. KAZAKOV, V. KETLEROV, G. KITIS, P. E. KOEHLER, Y. KOPACH, E. KOSSIONIDES , I. KROSHKINA, V. LACOSTE, C. LAMBOUDIS, H. LEEB, A. LEPRETRE , M. LOPES, M. LOZANO, S. LUKIC, S. MARRONE, J. M. MARTINEZ-VAL, P. MASTINU, A. MENGONI, R. MEUNIER, J. MEZENTSEVA, P. MILAZZO, E. MINGUEZ, V. MITROFANOV, C. MOREAU, N. NICOLIS, V. NIKOLENKO, H. OBERHUMMER, A. PAKOU, J. PANCIN, K. PAPADOPOULOS, T. PAPAEVANGELOU, C. PARADELA, T. PARADELIS, A. PAVLIK, P. PAVLOPOULOS, A. PEREZ-PARRA, L. PERRIALE, L. PERROT, J. M. PERLADO, V. PESKOV, V. PIKSAIKIN, R. PLAG, A. PLOMPEN, A. PLUKIS, A. POCH, A. POLICARPO, A. POPOV, Y. P. POPOV, C. PRETEL, J. M. QUESADA, E. RADERMACHER, T. RAUSCHER, R. REIFARTH, F. REJMUND, C. RUBBIA, G. RUDOLF, P. RULLHUSEN, L. SAKELLIOU, F. SALDANA, J. SALGADO, B. SAMYLIN, I. SAVVIDIS, S. SAVVIDIS, P. SEDYSHEV, J. C. SOARES, C. STEPHAN, P. SZALANSKI, G. TAGLIENTE, J. L. TAIN, C. TAPIA, L. TASSAN-GOT, L. TÁVORA, R. TERCHYCHNYI, C. TSABARIS, N. TSANGAS, C. W. E. VAN EIJK, G. VANNINI, P. VAZ, A. VENTURA, A. VILLAMARIN, V. VLACHOUDIS, R. VLASTOU, A. VOINOV, F. VOSS, H. WENDLER, M. WIESCHER, K. WISSHAK, L. ZANINI, S. ZEINALOV, B. ZHURAVLEV 1. Atominstitut der Österreichischen Universitäten,Technische Universität Wien, Austria 2. Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik,Universität Wien, Austria 3. Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt,Wien, Austria 4. CERN, EP Division, Geneva, Switzerland 5. CERN, SL Division, Geneva, Switzerland 6. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3, CENBG, Bordeaux, France 7. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3, CSNSM, Orsay, France 8. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3, IPN, Orsay, France 9. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3, IreS, Strasbourg, France 10. Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique/DSM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France 11. Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH (FZK), Institut für Kernphysik, Germany 12. Astro-Particle Consortium, Nuclear Physics Lab., University of Athens, Greece 13. Astro-Particle Consortium, Nuclear Physics Dep., Technical University of Athens, Greece 14. Astro-Particle Consortium, Nuclear Physics Institute, NCSR ”Demokritos”, Athens, Greece 15. Astro-Particle Consortium, Nuclear Physics Lab., University of Ioannina, Greece 16. Astro-Particle Consortium,Nuclear Physics Lab., University of Thessaloniki, Greece 17. Astro-Particle Consortium,Nuclear Physics Dep., University of Thrace, Greece 18. ENEA, Applied Physics Division, Bologna, Italy 19. Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy 20. Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nuclear-Bari, Italy 21. Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nuclear-Trieste, Italy 22. Universita degli Studi Pavia, Pavia, Italy 23. JRC-EC, IRMM, Geel, Belgium 24. University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland 25. Laboratorio de Instrumentacao e Phisica Experimental de Particulas, LIP-Coimbra & Departamento de Fisica da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal 26. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Dubna, Russia 27. Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Kaluga region, Obninsk, Russia 28. Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Technologicas, Madrid, Spain 29. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, University of Valencia, Spain 30. Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain 31. Universidad de Sevilla, Spain 32. Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain 33. Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain 34. Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan, Physics Department, Stockholm, Sweden 35. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland 36. Delft University of Technology, Interfaculty Reactor Institute, Delft, The Netherlands 37. Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA 38. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Physics Division, Oak Ridge, USA 39. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, USA 40. Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear ITN

Measurements to determine the energy dependent branching ratio for the neutron induced capture reaction on 209 Bi were performed at the time-of-flight facility GELINA of the IRMM in Geel (Belgium). By using germanium γ-ray detectors in combination with the time-of-flight technique, the γ-ray spectra following neutron capture on 209 Bi were determined around 6 neutron resonances between 0.8keV and 7.0keV. The relative partial cross sections were obtained by correcting the full energy net peak areas for the effective γ-ray detection efficiency and internal conversion. The effective γ-ray efficiency was obtained from a Monte Carlo model validated through measurements with calibrated sources. The results of a preliminary analysis are given in this paper.

Toxicological implications of exposure to bioavailable platinum group metals, here Pd, Pt, and Rh, are still to be clarified. This study obtained by a biosensor-based method preliminary information on potential effects on cellular metabolism as well as on possible tolerance mechanisms. Aerobic respiration was taken as the toxicological end point to perform tandem tests, namely functional toxicity test and tolerance test. Cells were suspended in the absence of essential constituents for growth. The dose-response curves obtained by exposure (2 h) to the metals (nanogram per gram range) suggested the same mechanisms of action, with Rh showing the greatest curve steepness and the lowest EC50 value. Conservative (95% lower confidence interval) EC10 values were 187, 85 and 51 ng g(-1) for Pt, Pd, and Rh respectively. Tolerance patterns were tested during the same runs. The full tolerance obtained after 12 h of exposure to each metal suggested mitochondrial inhibition of aerobic respiration as a target effect. The hazard rating of the metals in the tolerance test changed in the Rh EC50 range, where Rh showed the lowest toxicity. The observed tolerance might suggest a protective mechanism such as metallothionein induction at concentrations around the EC50 values. The performance of the bioassay was satisfactory, in terms of the limit of detection, repeatability, reproducibility, roboustness, sensibility, and stability; the method's critical uncertainty sources were identified for improvements.

Energy differential neutron capture cross section measurements have been performed to determine the branching ratio for the {sup 209}Bi(n, {gamma}) reaction. The measurements were carried out at the time-of-flight facility GELINA of the IRMM in Geel (Belgium). The capture measurements were performed at a 12 m flight path using three High-Purity Germanium detectors. The experimental set-up was optimized to reduce the prompt background due to scattered neutrons. Several {gamma}-ray spectra corresponding to the {sup 209}Bi + n resonances up to 20 keV were deduced. The results of a preliminary data analysis are given in this paper. (authors)

Energy differential neutron capture cross section measurements have been performed to determine the branching ratio for the {sup 209}Bi(n, {gamma}) reaction. The measurements were carried out at the time-of-flight facility GELINA of the IRMM in Geel (Belgium). The capture measurements were performed at a 12 m flight path using three High-Purity Germanium detectors. The experimental set-up was optimized to reduce the prompt background due to scattered neutrons. Several {gamma}-ray spectra corresponding to the {sup 209}Bi + n resonances up to 20 keV were deduced. The results of a preliminary data analysis are given in this paper. (authors)