R-Matrix Analysis of 232 Th Neutron Transmissions and Capture Cross Sections in the Energy Range Thermal to 4 keV

Neutron resonance parameters of Th-232 were obtained from the Reich-Moore SAMMY analysis of high-resolution neutron transmission measurements performed at the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator (ORELA) by Olsen in 1981, along with the high-resolution neutron capture measurements performed in 2005 at the Geel Linear Accelerator (GELINA, Belgium) by Schillebeeckx and at the n-TOF facility (CERN, Switzerland) by Aerts. The ORELA data were analyzed previously by Olsen with the Breit-Wigner multilevel code SIOB, and the results were used in the ENDF/B-VI evaluation. In the new analysis of the Olsen neutron transmissions by the modern computer code SAMMY, better accuracy is obtained for the resonance parameters by including in the experimental database the recent experimental neutron capture data. The experimental database and the method of analysis are described in the report. The neutron transmissions and the capture cross sections calculated with the resonance parameters are compared to the experimental values. A description is given of the statistical properties of the resonance parameters. The new evaluation results in a decrease in the capture resonance integral.