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At least 1,045 records · Page 58

The features of neutronic calculations for fast reactors with hybrid cores on the basis of BFS-62-3A critical assembly experiments

The different (U-Pu) fuel compositions are considered for next generation of sodium fast breeder reactors. The considerable discrepancies in axial and radial neutron spectra for hybrid reactor systems compared to the cores with UO{sub 2} fuel cause increasing uncertainty of generating the group nuclear constants in those reactor systems. The calculation results of BFS-62-3A critical assembly which is considered as full-scale model of BN-600 hybrid core with steel reflector specify quite different spectra in local areas. For those systems the MCNP 5 calculations demonstrate significant sensitivity of effective multiplication factor K{sub eff} and spectral indices to nuclear data libraries. For {sup 235}U, {sup 238}U, {sup 239}Pu the results of calculated radial fission rate distributions against the reconstructed ones are analyzed. Comparative analysis of spectral indices, neutron spectra and radial fission rate distributions are performed using the different versions of ENDF/B, JENDL-3.3, JENDL-4, JEFF-3.1.1 libraries and BROND-3 for Fe, Cr isotopes. For analyzing the fission rate sensitivity to the plutonium presence in the fuel {sup 239}Pu is substituted for {sup 235}U (enrichment 90%) in the FA areas containing the plutonium. For {sup 235}U, {sup 238}U, {sup 239}Pu radial fission rate distributions the explanation of pick values discrepancies is based on the group fission constants analyses and possible underestimation of some features at the experimental data recovery method (Westcott factors, temperature dependence). (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Optimization of a neutron detector design using adjoint transport simulation

A synthetic aperture approach has been developed and investigated for Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) detection in vehicles passing a checkpoint at highway speeds. SNM is postulated to be stored in a moving vehicle and detector assemblies are placed on the road-side or in chambers embedded below the road surface. Neutron and gamma spectral awareness is important for the detector assembly design besides high efficiencies, so that different SNMs can be detected and identified with various possible shielding settings. The detector assembly design is composed of a CsI gamma-ray detector block and five neutron detector blocks, with peak efficiencies targeting different energy ranges determined by adjoint simulations. In this study, formulations are derived using adjoint transport simulations to estimate detector efficiencies. The formulations is applied to investigate several neutron detector designs for Block IV, which has its peak efficiency in the thermal range, and Block V, designed to maximize the total neutron counts over the entire energy spectrum. Other Blocks detect different neutron energies. All five neutron detector blocks and the gamma-ray block are assembled in both MCNP and deterministic simulation models, with detector responses calculated to validate the fully assembled design using a 30-group library. The simulation results show that the 30-group library, collapsed from an 80-group library using an adjoint-weighting approach with the YGROUP code, significantly reduced the computational cost while maintaining accuracy. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Comet solutions to a stylized BWR benchmark problem

In this paper, a stylized 3-D BWR benchmark problem was used to evaluate the performance of the coarse mesh radiation transport method COMET. The benchmark problem consists of 560 fuel bundles at 3 different burnups and 3 coolant void states. The COMET solution was compared with the corresponding Monte Carlo reference solution using the same 2-group material cross section library for three control blade (rod) configurations, namely, all rods out (ARO), all rods in (ARI) and some rods in (SRJ). The differences in the COMET and MCNP eigenvalues were 43 pcm, 66 pcm and 32 pcm for the ARO, ARI and SRI cases, respectively. These differences are all within 3 standard deviations of the COMET uncertainty. The average relative differences in the bundle averaged fission densities for these three cases were 0.89%, 1.24%, and 1.05%, respectively. The corresponding differences in the fuel pin averaged fission densities were 1.24%, 1.84% and 1.29%, respectively. It was found that COMET is 3,000 times faster than Monte Carlo, while its statistical uncertainty in the fuel pin fission density is much lower than that of Monte Carlo (i.e., {approx}40 times lower). (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Application of wavelet scaling function expansion continuous-energy resonance calculation method to MOX fuel problem

More and more MOX fuels are used in all over the world in the past several decades. Compared with UO{sub 2} fuel, it contains some new features. For example, the neutron spectrum is harder and more resonance interference effects within the resonance energy range are introduced because of more resonant nuclides contained in the MOX fuel. In this paper, the wavelets scaling function expansion method is applied to study the resonance behavior of plutonium isotopes within MOX fuel. Wavelets scaling function expansion continuous-energy self-shielding method is developed recently. It has been validated and verified by comparison to Monte Carlo calculations. In this method, the continuous-energy cross-sections are utilized within resonance energy, which means that it's capable to solve problems with serious resonance interference effects without iteration calculations. Therefore, this method adapts to treat the MOX fuel resonance calculation problem natively. Furthermore, plutonium isotopes have fierce oscillations of total cross-section within thermal energy range, especially for {sup 240}Pu and {sup 242}Pu. To take thermal resonance effect of plutonium isotopes into consideration the wavelet scaling function expansion continuous-energy resonance calculation code WAVERESON is enhanced by applying the free gas scattering kernel to obtain the continuous-energy scattering source within thermal energy range (2.1 eV to 4.0 eV) contrasting against the resonance energy range in which the elastic scattering kernel is utilized. Finally, all of the calculation results of WAVERESON are compared with MCNP calculation. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Verification of the shift Monte Carlo code with the C5G7 reactor benchmark

Shift is a new hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic radiation transport code being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. At its current stage of development, Shift includes a parallel Monte Carlo capability for simulating eigenvalue and fixed-source multigroup transport problems. This paper focuses on recent efforts to verify Shift's Monte Carlo component using the two-dimensional and three-dimensional C5G7 NEA benchmark problems. Comparisons were made between the benchmark eigenvalues and those output by the Shift code. In addition, mesh-based scalar flux tally results generated by Shift were compared to those obtained using MCNP5 on an identical model and tally grid. The Shift-generated eigenvalues were within three standard deviations of the benchmark and MCNP5-1.60 values in all cases. The flux tallies generated by Shift were found to be in very good agreement with those from MCNP. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Fast mix table construction for material discretization

An effective hybrid Monte Carlo-deterministic implementation typically requires the approximation of a continuous geometry description with a discretized piecewise-constant material field. The inherent geometry discretization error can be reduced somewhat by using material mixing, where multiple materials inside a discrete mesh voxel are homogenized. Material mixing requires the construction of a 'mix table,' which stores the volume fractions in every mixture so that multiple voxels with similar compositions can reference the same mixture. Mix table construction is a potentially expensive serial operation for large problems with many materials and voxels. We formulate an efficient algorithm to construct a sparse mix table in O(number of voxels x log number of mixtures) time. The new algorithm is implemented in ADVANTG and used to discretize continuous geometries onto a structured Cartesian grid. When applied to an end-of-life MCNP model of the High Flux Isotope Reactor with 270 distinct materials, the new method improves the material mixing time by a factor of 100 compared to a naive mix table implementation. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Testing of ENDF71x: A new ACE-formatted neutron data library based on ENDF/B-VII.1

The ENDF71x library [1] is the most thoroughly tested set of ACE-format data tables ever released by the Nuclear Data Team at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). It is based on ENDF/B-VII. 1, the most recently released set of evaluated nuclear data files produced by the US Cross Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG). A variety of techniques were used to test and verify the ENDF7 1x library before its public release. These include the use of automated checking codes written by members of the Nuclear Data Team, visual inspections of key neutron data, MCNP6 calculations designed to test data for every included combination of isotope and temperature as comprehensively as possible, and direct comparisons between ENDF71x and previous ACE library releases. Visual inspection of some of the most important neutron data revealed energy balance problems and unphysical discontinuities in the cross sections for some nuclides. Doppler broadening of the total cross sections with increasing temperature was found to be qualitatively correct. Test calculations performed using MCNP prompted two modifications to the MCNP6 source code and also exposed bad secondary neutron yields for {sup 231,233}Pa that are present in both ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VII.0. A comparison of ENDF71x with its predecessor ACE library, ENDF70, showed that dramatic changes have been made in the neutron cross section data for a number of isotopes between ENDF/B-VII.0 and ENDF/B-VII.1. Based on the results of these verification tests and the validation tests performed by Kahler, et al. [2], the ENDF71x library is recommended for use in all Monte Carlo applications. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Comparison of MCNP6 and experimental results for neutron counts, Rossi-{alpha}, and Feynman-{alpha} distributions

MCNP6, the general-purpose Monte Carlo N-Particle code, has the capability to perform time-dependent calculations by tracking the time interval between successive events of the neutron random walk. In fixed-source calculations for a subcritical assembly, the zero time value is assigned at the moment the neutron is emitted by the external neutron source. The PTRAC and F8 cards of MCNP allow to tally the time when a neutron is captured by {sup 3}He(n, p) reactions in the neutron detector. From this information, it is possible to build three different time distributions: neutron counts, Rossi-{alpha}, and Feynman-{alpha}. The neutron counts time distribution represents the number of neutrons captured as a function of time. The Rossi-a distribution represents the number of neutron pairs captured as a function of the time interval between two capture events. The Feynman-a distribution represents the variance-to-mean ratio, minus one, of the neutron counts array as a function of a fixed time interval. The MCNP6 results for these three time distributions have been compared with the experimental data of the YALINA Thermal facility and have been found to be in quite good agreement. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Improved mesh based photon sampling techniques for neutron activation analysis

The design of fusion power systems requires analysis of neutron activation of large, complex volumes, and the resulting particles emitted from these volumes. Structured mesh-based discretization of these problems allows for improved modeling in these activation analysis problems. Finer discretization of these problems results in large computational costs, which drives the investigation of more efficient methods. Within an ad hoc subroutine of the Monte Carlo transport code MCNP, we implement sampling of voxels and photon energies for volumetric sources using the alias method. The alias method enables efficient sampling of a discrete probability distribution, and operates in 0(1) time, whereas the simpler direct discrete method requires 0(log(n)) time. By using the alias method, voxel sampling becomes a viable alternative to sampling space with the 0(1) approach of uniformly sampling the problem volume. Additionally, with voxel sampling it is straightforward to introduce biasing of volumetric sources, and we implement this biasing of voxels as an additional variance reduction technique that can be applied. We verify our implementation and compare the alias method, with and without biasing, to direct discrete sampling of voxels, and to uniform sampling. We study the behavior of source biasing in a second set of tests and find trends between improvements and source shape, material, and material density. Overall, however, the magnitude of improvements from source biasing appears to be limited. Future work will benefit from the implementation of efficient voxel sampling - particularly with conformal unstructured meshes where the uniform sampling approach cannot be applied. (authors)

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Optimization of multi-group cross sections for fast reactor analysis

The selection of the number of broad energy groups, collapsed broad energy group boundaries, and their associated evaluation into collapsed macroscopic cross sections from a general 238-group ENDF/B-VII library dramatically impacted the k eigenvalue for fast reactor analysis. An analysis was undertaken to assess the minimum number of energy groups that would preserve problem physics; this involved studies using the 3D deterministic transport parallel code PENTRAN, the 2D deterministic transport code SCALE6.1, the Monte Carlo based MCNP5 code, and the YGROUP cross section collapsing tool on a spatially discretized MOX fuel pin comprised of 21% PUO{sub 2}-UO{sub 2} with sodium coolant. The various cases resulted in a few hundred pcm difference between cross section libraries that included the 238 multi-group reference, and cross sections rendered using various reaction and adjoint weighted cross sections rendered by the YGROUP tool, and a reference continuous energy MCNP case. Particular emphasis was placed on the higher energies characteristic of fission neutrons in a fast spectrum; adjoint computations were performed to determine the average per-group adjoint fission importance for the MOX fuel pin. This study concluded that at least 10 energy groups for neutron transport calculations are required to accurately predict the eigenvalue for a fast reactor system to within 250 pcm of the 238 group case. In addition, the cross section collapsing/weighting schemes within YGROUP that provided a collapsed library rendering eigenvalues closest to the reference were the contribution collapsed, reaction rate weighted scheme. A brief analysis on homogenization of the MOX fuel pin is also provided, although more work is in progress in this area. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Bayesian calibration of reactor neutron flux spectrum using activation detectors measurements: Application to CALIBAN reactor

In this paper, we present calibration methods in order to estimate reactor neutron flux spectrum and its uncertainties by using integral activation measurements. These techniques are performed using Bayesian and MCMC framework. These methods are applied to integral activation experiments in the cavity of the CALIBAN reactor. We estimate the neutron flux and its related uncertainties. The originality of this work is that these uncertainties take into account measurements uncertainties, cross-sections uncertainties and model error. In particular, our results give a very good approximation of the total flux and indicate that neutron flux from MCNP simulation for energies above about 5 MeV seems to overestimate the 'real flux'. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Study on generating of thermal neutron scattering cross sections for LiH

LiH is designated as a promising moderator and shielding material because of its low density, high melting point and large fraction of H atoms. However, lack of the thermal neutron cross sections of LiH makes numerical calculation deviate from experimental data to some extent. As a result, it is necessary to study LiH thermal kernel effect. The phonon property of LiH has been investigated by first-principles calculations using the plane-wave pseudo potential method with CASTEP code. The scattering law and the thermal neutron scattering cross sections for Li and H have been generated using this distribution. The results have been compared with zirconium hydride data. The GASKET and NJOY/LEAPR codes have been used in the calculation of scattering law, whose results have been compared with the reference; the discrepancy mainly comes from phonon spectrums and its expansion. LEAPR had the capability to compute scattering through larger energy and momentum transfers than GASKET did. By studying LiH phonon spectrum and constructing the model of LiH thermal kernel and scattering matrix, the ACE format LiH thermal neutron cross sections for MCNP software could be made and used for reactor Neutronics calculation. (authors)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Lattice Boltzmann Method applied to neutron transport

In this paper the applicability of the Lattice Boltzmann Method to neutron transport is investigated. One of the main features of the Lattice Boltzmann method is the simultaneous discretization of the phase space of the problem, whereby particles are restricted to move on a lattice. An iterative solution of the operator form of the neutron transport equation is presented here, with the first collision source as the starting point of the iteration scheme. A full description of the discretization scheme is given, along with the quadrature set used for the angular discretization. An angular refinement scheme is introduced to increase the angular coverage of the problem phase space and to mitigate lattice ray effects. The method is applied to a model problem to investigate its applicability to neutron transport and the results are compared to a reference solution calculated, using MCNP. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A neutronic feasibility study of the AP1000 design loaded with fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel

A neutronic feasibility study is performed to evaluate the utilization of fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel in the AP1000 reactor design. The widely used Monte Carlo code MCNP is employed to perform the full core analysis at the beginning of cycle (BOC). Both the original AP1000 design and the modified design with the replacement of uranium dioxide fuel pellets with FCM fuel compacts are modeled and simulated for comparison. To retain the original excess reactivity, ranges of fuel particle packing fraction and fuel enrichment in the FCM fuel design are first determined. Within the determined ranges, the reactor control mechanism employed by the original design is directly used in the modified design and the utilization feasibility is evaluated. The worth of control of each type of fuel burnable absorber (discrete/integral fuel burnable absorbers and soluble boron in primary coolant) is calculated for each design and significant differences between the two designs are observed. Those differences are interpreted by the fundamental difference of the fuel form used in each design. Due to the usage of silicon carbide as the matrix material and the fuel particles fuel form in FCM fuel design, neutron slowing down capability is increased in the new design, leading to a much higher thermal spectrum than the original design. This results in different reactivity and fission power density distributions in each design. We conclude that a direct replacement of fuel pellets by the FCM fuel in the AP1000 cannot retain the original optimum reactor core performance. Necessary modifications of the core design should be done and the original control mechanism needs to be re-designed. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Design and Testing of a Novel Wide Range - Segmented Gamma Scanner Incorporating Tomographic Gamma Scanning for Measuring Both Low and Intermediate Level Waste in Drums - 13470

This paper describes the design and testing of a novel automated Wide Range Segmented Gamma ray Scanning (WR-SGS) assay instrument that also incorporates Tomographic Gamma Scanning (TGS). The instrument is designed for the measurement of both Low and Intermediate Level Waste (LLW and ILW) in 200 litre drums and other waste containers covering a wide range of density. Like earlier ANTECH WR-SGS instruments, the system employs a single shielded and collimated high purity germanium (HPGe) detector to quantify the radionuclide content of the waste and like conventional SGS instruments it is suitable for the measurement of relatively homogeneous waste matrices. Also, like earlier WR-SGS systems the instrument incorporates an automated variable aperture collimator, which allows the vertical segment height to be adjusted in order to measure both high dose-rate and very low activity drums. The instrument employs both conventional discrete SGS vertical segment measurements as well as vertical segment measurement by continuous helical-scanning of the drum as it rotates. This latter method reduces measurement times for SGS measurements. In order to determine the density corrections for both low and high-density drums, a high activity Eu-152 transmission source is employed. When not in use, and in place of a conventional shutter mechanism, the shielded transmission source is moved to a shielded storage position to eliminate background radiation from the source. Due to its novel features, the WR-SGS is applicable to the measurement of both very low and very high activity waste drums as well as waste drums with a wide range of density. If located in a low background position and with the effective shielding of the strong transmission source, the instrument can be used to measure very low level or exempt waste. In order to extend the range of applicability to the measurement of heterogeneous drums, TGS measurement capability has been included in the basic WR-SGS design. This is achieved by adding horizontal motion to the waste drum rotation platform and incorporating TGS collimation into the variable aperture collimator, as well as a filter to reduce the detector signal when straight-through measurements are made using the strong transmission source. Test measurements are presented of the system operating in both SGS and TGS modes using different drum densities and source strengths. The test measurement results are compared with benchmarked MCNP Monte Carlo calculations. The Wide Range SGS - TGS instrument extends the range of both activity and density that can be measured in 200 and 340 litre drums. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Testing and Performance Validation of a Sensitive Gamma Ray Camera Designed for Radiation Detection and Decommissioning Measurements in Nuclear Facilities-13044

This paper describes the measurements, testing and performance validation of a sensitive gamma ray camera designed for radiation detection and quantification in the environment and decommissioning and hold-up measurements in nuclear facilities. The instrument, which is known as RadSearch, combines a sensitive and highly collimated LaBr{sub 3} scintillation detector with an optical (video) camera with controllable zoom and focus and a laser range finder in one detector head. The LaBr{sub 3} detector has a typical energy resolution of between 2.5% and 3% at the 662 keV energy of Cs-137 compared to that of NaI detectors with a resolution of typically 7% to 8% at the same energy. At this energy the tungsten shielding of the detector provides a shielding ratio of greater than 900:1 in the forward direction and 100:1 on the sides and from the rear. The detector head is mounted on a pan/tile mechanism with a range of motion of ±180 degrees (pan) and ±90 degrees (tilt) equivalent to 4 π steradians. The detector head with pan/tilt is normally mounted on a tripod or wheeled cart. It can also be mounted on vehicles or a mobile robot for access to high dose-rate areas and areas with high levels of contamination. Ethernet connects RadSearch to a ruggedized notebook computer from which it is operated and controlled. Power can be supplied either as 24-volts DC from a battery or as 50 volts DC supplied by a small mains (110 or 230 VAC) power supply unit that is co-located with the controlling notebook computer. In this latter case both power and Ethernet are supplied through a single cable that can be up to 80 metres in length. If a local battery supplies power, the unit can be controlled through wireless Ethernet. Both manual operation and automatic scanning of surfaces and objects is available through the software interface on the notebook computer. For each scan element making up a part of an overall scanned area, the unit measures a gamma ray spectrum. Multiple radionuclides may be selected by the operator and will be identified if present. In scanning operation the unit scans a designated region and superimposes over a video image the distribution of measured radioactivity. For the total scanned area or object RadSearch determines the total activity of operator selected radionuclides present and the gamma dose-rate measured at the detector head. Results of hold-up measurements made in a nuclear facility are presented, as are test measurements of point sources distributed arbitrarily on surfaces. These latter results are compared with the results of benchmarked MCNP Monte Carlo calculations. The use of the device for hold-up and decommissioning measurements is validated. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

The Transmutation of Nuclear Waste in the Two-Zone Subcritical System Driven by High- Intensity Neutron Generator - 12098

The main problems of transmutation of high-level radioactive waste (minor actinides and long-lived fission products) are considered in our work. The range of radioactive waste of nuclear power is analyzed. The conditions under which the transmutation of radioactive waste will be most effective are analyzed too. The modeling results of a transmutation of the main radioactive isotopes are presented and discussed. The transmutation of minor actinides and long-lived fission products are modeled in our work (minor actinides - Np-237, Am-241, Am-242, Am-243, Cm-244, Cm-245; long-lived fission products - I-129, Tc-99). The two-zone subcritical system is calculated with help of different neutron-physical codes (MCNP, Scale, Montebarn, Origen). The ENDF/B-VI nuclear data library used in above calculations. Thus, radioactive wastes can be divided into two main groups that need to be transmuted. The minor actinides form the first group and the long-lived fission products form the second one. For the purpose of effective transmutation these isotopes must be extracted from the spent nuclear fuel with the help of either PUREX technology or pyrometallurgical technology. The two-zone reactor system with fast and thermal regions is more effective for nuclear waste transmutation than the one-zone reactor. Modeling results show that nearly all radioactive wastes can be transmuted in the two-zone subcritical system driven by a high-intensity neutron generator with the external neutron source strength of 1.10{sup 13} n/sec. Obviously, transmutation rate will increase with a rise of the external neutron source strength. From the results above we can also see that the initial loading of radioactive isotopes into the reactor system should exceed by mass those isotopes that are finally produced. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Dose Rate Calculation of TRU Metal Ingot in Pyroprocessing - 12202

Spent fuel management has been a main problem to be solved for continuous utilization of nuclear energy. Spent fuel management policy of Korea is 'Wait and See'. It is focused on Pyro-process and SFR (Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor) for closed-fuel cycle research and development in Korea. For peaceful use of nuclear facilities, the proliferation resistance has to be proved. Proliferation resistance is one of key constraints in the deployment of advanced nuclear energy systems. Non-proliferation and safeguard issues have been strengthening internationally. Barriers to proliferation are that reduces desirability or attractiveness as an explosive and makes it difficult to gain access to the materials, or makes it difficult to misuse facilities and/or technologies for weapons applications. Barriers to proliferation are classified into intrinsic and extrinsic barriers. Intrinsic barrier is inherent quality of reactor materials or the fuel cycle that is built into the reactor design and operation such as material and technical barriers. As one of the intrinsic measures, the radiation from the material is considered significantly. Therefore the radiation of TRU metal ingot from the pyro-process was calculated using ORIGEN and MCNP code. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗