Validation of capture reactions cross sections in ²⁵²Cf(s.f.) neutron field

We have investigated following capture reactions: ¹⁹⁷Au(n,g)¹⁹⁸Au, ⁶³Cu(n,g)⁶⁴Cu, ⁴⁵Sc(n,g)⁴⁶Sc, ¹⁸¹Ta(n,g)¹⁸²Ta, ¹⁴⁰Ce(n,g)¹⁴¹Ce, ¹³⁹La(n,g)¹⁴⁰La, ¹⁷⁶Yb(n,g)¹⁷⁷Yb, ⁵⁵Mn(n,g)⁵⁶Mn, and ¹⁴¹Pr(n,g)¹⁴²Pr in a standard ²⁵²Cf(s.f.) neutron field. The experimentally derived reaction rates were compared with calculations using state-of-the-art libraries IRDFF-II, ENDF/B-VIII.0, JENDL-5 and JEFF-3.3 performed in MCNP6.2 transport code. The experiment was focused on capture reactions in high energy neutron range. To suppress scattered low energy neutrons, all activation materials were enclosed by a spherical cadmium surface of 30 cm in diameter. Experimentally derived reaction rates of ¹⁹⁷Au(n,g)¹⁹⁸Au, ⁶³Cu(n,g)⁶⁴Cu reactions agree with calculations using all state-of-the-art nuclear data libraries. The highest discrepancies were found when evaluating ¹³⁹La(n,g)¹⁴⁰La and ⁵⁵Mn(n,g)⁵⁶Mn reactions utilizing all libraries. Experimental reaction rates applying data from the JENDL-5 library agree very well with the results of other reactions except for the ⁴⁵Sc(n,g)⁴⁶Sc reaction. ¹⁸¹Ta(n,g)¹⁸²Ta reaction rate does not agree within uncertainties using any library. The ¹⁷⁶Yb(n,g)¹⁷⁷Yb reaction rate agrees reasonably well only when performing calculation using JENDL-5 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 libraries, unlike JEFF-3.3 library. ¹⁴⁰Ce(n,g)¹⁴¹Ce and ¹⁴¹Pr(n,g)¹⁴²Pr reaction rates applying JEFF-3.3 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 libraries do not agree within uncertainties.