Comprehensive stainless steel neutron transport libraries validation

Abstract

Stainless steel is an important material that is relied upon to perform consistently over time in the nuclear industry. The paper focuses on the validation of different stainless steel neutron transport libraries. The validation was performed by means of samples activation in different positions and also the measurement of the fast neutron spectrum in the energy range of 1–12 MeV using a scintillation stilbene detector. Stainless steel was used in the form of a block with a hole for the neutron source. The dosimetric reactions used for validations were 58Ni(n,p)58Co, 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb, 197Au(n,2n)196Au, 63Cu(n,g)64Cu, 197Au(n,g)198Au, 115In(n,ń)115m1In, 115In(n,g)116m1In, 55Mn(n,g)56Mn, and 181Ta(n,g)182Ta. The experimental data were compared with MCNP6.2 calculations employing ENDF/B-VIII.0, ENDF/B-VII.1, JEFF-3.3, JEFF-3.2, CENDL-3.1, JENDL-5 and INDEN transport libraries. These libraries were used for the simulation of the stainless steel block. The activation foils cross sections were taken from the IRDFF-II library. An intense standard neutron 252Cf(sf) source was placed in the centre of the stainless steel block. INDEN library is the best for the calculation of neutron flux in the range of 1–12 MeV. For the activation detectors placed at the various distances inside the block, the best library depends on the reaction studied.