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The KATRIN experiment aims to measure the effective electron antineutrino mass \\[m_{\\overline{\\nu }_e}\\] with a sensitivity of \\[{0.2}\\,{\\hbox {eV}/\\hbox {c}^2}\\] using a gaseous tritium source combined with the MAC-E filter technique. A low background rate is crucial to achieving the proposed sensitivity, and dedicated measurements have been performed to study possible sources of background electrons. In this work, we test the hypothesis that gamma radiation from external radioactive sources significantly increases the rate of background events created in the main spectrometer (MS) and observed in the focal-plane detector. Using detailed simulations of the gamma flux in the experimental hall, combined with a series of experimental tests that artificially increased or decreased the local gamma flux to the MS, we set an upper limit of \\[{0.006}\\,{\\hbox {count}/\\hbox {s}}\\] (90% C.L.) from this mechanism. Our results indicate the effectiveness of the electrostatic and magnetic shielding used to block secondary electrons emitted from the inner surface of the MS.

The KATRIN experiment aims to determine the effective electron neutrino mass with a sensitivity of \\[{0.2}{\\hbox { eV/c}^{2}}\\] (%90 CL) by precision measurement of the shape of the tritium \\[\\upbeta \\]-spectrum in the endpoint region. The energy analysis of the decay electrons is achieved by a MAC-E filter spectrometer. A common background source in this setup is the decay of short-lived isotopes, such as \\[{}^{\\text {219}}\\text {Rn}\\] and \\[{}^{\\text {220}}\\text {Rn}\\], in the spectrometer volume. Active and passive countermeasures have been implemented and tested at the KATRIN main spectrometer. One of these is the magnetic pulse method, which employs the existing air coil system to reduce the magnetic guiding field in the spectrometer on a short timescale in order to remove low- and high-energy stored electrons. Here we describe the working principle of this method and present results from commissioning measurements at the main spectrometer. Simulations with the particle-tracking software Kassiopeia were carried out to gain a detailed understanding of the electron storage conditions and removal processes.

The collaboration Energy and Transmutation of Radioactive Waste uses different setups consisting of lead, uranium and graphite irradiated by relativistic protons and deuterons to study transmutation of radioactive materials by produced neutrons. Our group measured spatial distribution of neutrons by means of activation samples during the assembly irradiation by the JINR Nuclotron beams. We also present results of simulations using MCNPX code and their comparison with obtained experimental data. We use Au, Al, Bi, In and Ta foils as activation detectors, but unfortunately almost no experimental cross-section data for observed threshold (n,xn) reactions are available for higher neutron energies. Therefore we carried out series experiments devoted to determination of neutron cross-sections of various threshold reactions using different quasi-monoenergetic neutron sources.

A series of experiments devoted to studies of neutron cross-sections by activation method was carried out. The cross-sections of various threshold reactions were studied by means of different quasi-monoenergetic neutron sources with energies from 14 MeV up to 100 MeV. Threshold reactions in various materials are among other used to measure fast neutron fields produced during accelerator driven system studies. For this reason our measurements of neutron cross-sections are crucial. At present, neither experimental nor evaluated data above 30 MeV are available for neutron threshold reactions in Au, I and In published in this proceedings. We studied materials in the form of thin foils and compared our data with the calculations preformed using the deterministic code TALYS 1.4.

The accelerator-Driven-System (ADS) is very important to study the neutron field and radionuclide production inside simple-geometry uranium subcritical setups irradiated with high energy particle beams. A subcritical setup QUINTA was irradiated with the 660-MeV proton beam from Phasotron accelerator at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). The radionuclide production in the region along the beam axis was investigated by the activation technique. The aim was to compare (n,x) with (p,x) reactions using activation detectors of 59 Co and nat Pb, and compare experimental results with the calculated results using Monte Carlo simulation code MCNPX 2.7.

The cross-sections of relativistic deuteron reactions on natural copper were studied by the means of activation method. The deuteron beams produced by JINR Nuclotron (Russia) with energies from 1 GeV up to 8 GeV were used. Lack of such cross-sections prevents the usage of copper foils for beam integral monitoring. The copper monitors will help us to improve the beam integral determination during ADS studies. The yttrium samples are very suitable activation detectors for monitoring of neutron fields not only in the ADS studies. But experimental cross-section data for higher energy threshold neutron reactions are still missing. This situation is the reason why we have started to study neutron reactions on yttrium by the means of quasi mono-energetic neutron source based on NPI ez cyclotron (Czech Republic).

The international collaboration Energy and Transmutation of Radioactive Waste (E&T RAW) performed intensive studies of several simple accelerator-driven system (ADS) setups consisting of lead, uranium and graphite which were irradiated by relativistic proton and deuteron beams in the past years at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. The most recent setup called Quinta, consisting of natural uranium target-blanket and lead shielding, was irradiated by deuteron beams in the energy range between 1 and 8 GeV in three accelerator runs at JINR Nuclotron in 2011 and 2012 with yttrium samples among others inserted inside the setup to measure the neutron flux in various places. Suitable activation detectors serve as one of possible tools for monitoring of proton and deuteron beams and for measurements of neutron field distribution in ADS studies. Yttrium is one of such suitable materials for monitoring of high energy neutrons. Various threshold reactions can be observed in yttrium samples. The yields of isotopes produced in the samples were determined using the activation method. Monte Carlo simulations of the reaction rates leading to production of different isotopes were performed in the MCNPX transport code and compared with the experimental results obtained from the yttrium samples.

Improvements of the Monte Carlo transport codes and cross-section libraries are very important steps towards usage of the accelerator-driven transmutation systems. We have conducted a lot of benchmark experiments with different set-ups consisting of lead, natural uranium and moderator irradiated by relativistic protons and deuterons within framework of the collaboration \"Energy and Transmutation of Radioactive Waste\". Unfortunately, the knowledge of the total or partial cross-sections of important reactions is insufficient. Due to this reason we have started extensive studies of different reaction cross-sections. We measure cross-sections of important neutron reactions by means of the quasi-monoenergetic neutron sources based on the cyclotrons at Nuclear Physics Institute in e and at The Svedberg Laboratory in Uppsala. Measurements of partial cross-sections of relativistic deuteron reactions were the second direction of our studies. The new results obtained during last years will be shown. Possible use of these data for improvement of libraries, models and benchmark studies will be discussed.

Current trend in nuclear reactor physics is a transition from technologies using thermal neutrons to technologies utilizing fast neutrons. Unfortunately focus was put mainly on the thermal neutrons for a long time and lead to very good knowledge about this low energy region, but very scarce coverage of the high energy region. This means that there is a gap in the knowledge of excitation functions for higher energies. This gap spreads from 20 MeV up to 1 GeV and higher. This is exactly the energy region needed for description of advanced nuclear systems such as accelerator driven systems (ADS). Our group from Nuclear Physics Institute (NPI) of the CAS is a member of an international collaboration Energy & Transmutation of Radioactive Waste (E&T RAW). This collaboration focuses on ADS for many years. In order to measure neutron field within ADS models it is necessary to know excitation functions of reactions used to monitor the neutron field. In many cases there are almost no experimental data for suitable reactions. Worse and quite common case is that there are no data at all. Therefore we are also focusing on measurements of these data in order to fill the databases as well as to allow further improvements of codes for nuclear data calculations.

The neutrino mass experiment KATRIN requires a stability of 3 ppm for the retarding potential at − 18.6 kV of the main spectrometer. To monitor the stability, two custom-made ultra-precise high-voltage dividers were developed and built in cooperation with the German national metrology institute Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). Until now, regular absolute calibration of the voltage dividers required bringing the equipment to the specialised metrology laboratory. Here we present a new method based on measuring the energy difference of two 83mKr conversion electron lines with the KATRIN setup, which was demonstrated during KATRIN’s commissioning measurements in July 2017. The measured scale factor M=1972.449(10) of the high-voltage divider K35 is in agreement with the last PTB calibration 4 years ago. This result demonstrates the utility of the calibration method, as well as the long-term stability of the voltage divider.