“…The Gd cross section remains significantly higher than the thermal neutron capture cross section of 10 B out to neutron energies of w200 meV. Because of the large natural Gd thermal neutron capture cross section of 46,000 b, including a 15.65% natural abundance of the 157 Gd isotope with a thermal neutron capture cross section of 255,000 b (Cerullo et al, 2009, Garber and Kinsey, 1976, Gebauer et al, 1997, KAERI 2000, McLane et al, 1988, Mireshghi et al, 1994, Gd has often been touted as the primary conversion component of a neutron detector (Ali et al, 1994, Becvar et al, 2000, Groshev et al, 1958, Kandlakunta et al, 2013, Kinsey and Bartholomew, 1953, 7e12, Sakurai and Kobayashi, 2002, Schultz et al, 2010. The 157 Gd isotope neutron absorption of the neutron leaves the 158 Gd in an excited state that releases energy through emission of high and low energy gamma rays, X-rays, and internal conversion (IC) and Auger Coster-Kronig (ACK) conversion electrons as:…”