The doctoral thesis is focused on measurements of neutron cross-sections mainly cross-sections of (n,xn) threshold reactions. With the dawn of advanced nuclear systems such as fast reactors of GenIV, accelerator driven system or even fusion reactors, monitoring of fast neutron fields will gain on importance. The activation detectors are one of the viable options how to monitor these neutron fields and (n,xn) reactions would be one of the best options how to do such monitoring. There is one condition though. We need to have good cross- section data in high neutron energy region. Unfortunately, the current situation is rather bad. There is only a small amount of reliable data for neutron energies above 20 MeV and with increasing energy, the situation gets only worse. For this reason, we measure the cross-sections of (n,xn) reactions on perspective materials such as yttrium, gold and tantalum with neutron energies from 17.4 up to 94 MeV. In this thesis, the measurements together with motivation and methodology are described. Obtained results are in agreement with existing data. Severe discrepancies were observed between the predictions and experimental data for high order (n,xn) reactions. This problem is discussed and solved. The results in this region are in form of cross-section values and also...

This dissertation focuses on irradiations of a spallation set-up consisting of more than half a ton of natural uranium that were executed by a 660 MeV proton beam at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Reserch in Dubna. Two types of irradiations were arranged: with and without lead shielding. Both types were arranged with threshold activation detectors (Al-27, Mn-55, Co-59, and In-nat) located throughout the whole set-up both in horizontal and vertical positions and activated by secondary neutrons produced by spallation reaction. The threshold activation detectors were analysed by the method of gamma-ray spectroscopy. Radionuclides found in the threshold detectors were analysed and reaction rates were determined for each radionuclide. Ratios of the reaction rates were determined from irradiation of the set-up with and without lead shielding. Subsequently, the neutron spectra generated inside the spallation target at different positions were calculated using Co-59 detector. The experimental results were compared with Monte Carlo simulations performed using MCNPX 2.7.0.