Zirconium alloys are widely used as cladding material in nuclear reactors due to their neutron transparency. Now, it is shown that 88Zr has a surprisingly high neutron capture cross-section exceeding that of other zirconium isotopes by six orders of magnitude.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Rhodes, R. The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987).
Shusterman, J. A. et al. Nature 565, 328–330 (2019).
Q-value calculator (QCalc) https://www.nndc.bnl.gov/qcalc (National Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory).
Meija, J. et al. Pure Appl. Chem. 88, 293–306 (2016).
McCutchan, E. A. et al. Nuclear Data Sheets 115, 135–304 (2014).
Singh, B. Nuclear Data Sheets 114, 1–208 (2013).
Baglin, C. M. Nuclear Data Sheets 112, 1163–1389 (2011).
Basu, S. K. et al. Nuclear Data Sheets 111, 2555–2737 (2010).
Abriola, D. et al. Nuclear Data Sheets 109, 2501–2655 (2008).
Mughabghab, S. F. Atlas of Neutron Resonances 6th edn (Elsevier, Upton, 2018).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Heinitz, S., Köster, U. Zirconium isotope found to be a neutron poison. Nat. Phys. 15, 208–209 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0452-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0452-5
