Re-evaluating low-energy neutron-deuteron elastic scattering using three-nucleon theory

Using a well-established nucleon-nucleon interaction that fits the NN Scattering data (Bonn potential), and the AGS form of three-body theory, we perform precise calculations of low-energy neutron-deuteron scattering. There appear to be problems for this system in the ENDF/B-VI.8 (ENDF/B-VI.5 through VI.8) data library, which persist in the newest version, ENDF/B-VII.0. Supporting experimental data in this energy region are rather old (>25 years), sparse and often inconsistent. Our three-body results at low energies, 50 keV to 10 MeV are compared to the ENDF/B-VII.0 and JENDL-3.3 evaluated angular distributions. The impact of these results on calculated reactivity for various critical systems involving heavy water is shown.