Measurement of the $^{18}O($\alpha$,n)$^{21}$Ne reaction from 2-8 MeV*

$^{18}$O($\alpha$,n)$^{21}$Ne reaction has broad interest across a number of applications for nuclear physics. In nuclear astrophysics, this reaction acts as a competing channel for the production of $^{22}$Ne for the neutron source in the weak s-process. In neutrinoless double beta decay, this reaction poses a potential background in water shielded detectors. In addition, for nuclear nonproliferation, it acts as a neutron source in low burnup uranium oxide fuel. There is little existing data for this reaction, with large uncertainties dominating the cross section at higher energies. As such, a high-resolution measurement of the $^{18}$O($\alpha$,n)$^{21}$Ne reaction was performed at the University of Notre Dame over the range E$_{\alpha} = 2 - 8$ MeV to extract partial and total cross sections. 10 ODeSA detectors were used for neutron spectroscopy via the spectrum unfolding technique, and 2 HPGe detectors were also used to detect secondary gamma rays. Preliminary results from this measurement will be shown and compared to existing data.