Fusion Decay Heat Benchmarking of the Latest Nuclear Data Libraries with FISPACT-II

Material composition and nuclear data libraries’ influence on nickel–chromium alloys activation evaluation: a comparison with decay heat experiments

Uncertainty assessment on the calculated decay heat of the ASTRID basic design core based on the DARWIN-2.3 package

The known ORNL ORIGEN code is widely spread over the world for inventory, activity and decay heat tasks and is used stand-alone or implemented in activation, shielding or burn-up systems. More than 1000 isotopes with more than six coupled neutron capture and radioactive decay channels are handled simultaneously by the code. The characteristics of the calculated inventories, e.g., masses, activities, neutron and photon source terms or the decay heat during short or long decay time steps are achieved by summing over all isotopes, characterized in the ORIGEN libraries. An extended nuclear GRS-ORIGENX data library is now developed for practical appliance. The library was checked for activation tasks of structure material isotopes and for actinide and fission product burn-up calculations compared with experiments and standard methods. The paper is directed to the LWR decay heat calculation features of the new library and shows the differences of dynamical and time integrated results of ENDF/B-VI based and elder ENDF/B-V based libraries for decay heat tasks compared to fission burst experiments, ANS curves and some other published data. A multi-group time exponential evaluation is given for the fission burst power of 4 important fission materials, to be used in quick LWR reactor accident decay heat calculation tools. 1 Development of a GRS improved, ENDF/B-VI based ORIGEN data library A new nuclear data library GRS-ORIGENX [11] is now developed for practical appliance. In a first step of development, called LIBMAST04, some problems in the former ORIGEN calculation method [2] and/or in the data libraries for structural material activation calculations (LIB1), for the actinide buildup (LIB2) and the fission product generation (LIB3) could be solved, e.g., the tritium, 14C, 22Na, 26Al, 60Fe or 93mNb production problem. This was achieved by extending the number of neutron reaction channels, the energy groups and the energy range. All cross sections and build-up channels are completely recalculated by point data files JEF-2.2, ENDF/BVI, JENDL3.2 and EAF97. But the decay data and fission yields of LIBMAST04 were based on ENDF/B-V as in the burn-up program system OREST-96 [10]. In a second step of development LIBMAST06 the decay data – decay energies, probabilities and channels – and 25 fission yield sets are now taken from ENDF/B-VI data bases. The decay energies were analyzed and improved for reactor accident calculation to avoid the slight under-predictions of the reactor decay heat in the first 1000 seconds in ENDF/BVI. Especially the beta and gamma energies of 70 important fission products were enlarged by 5%. The library was checked for structure material isotope activation, and for actinide and fission product burn-up inventories compared with experiments and standard calculations. The overall data a Presenting author, e-mail: Ulrich.Hesse@grs.de of the new library, compared to elder evaluations, are listed in table 1, last column: Table 1. Nuclide numbers and data range LIBMAST06 and former ORIGEN versions. Library ORIGEN ref. [10] LIBMAST-04 LIBMAST-06 ref. [2] *) *) **) Number of nuclides LIB1 253 700 98

The Mixed Oxide samples (MOX) ARIANE Post Irradiation Examination samples BM1 and BM3 have been analyzed in this work, based on various two- and three-dimensional models. Calculated and measured nuclide inventories are compared based on CASMO5, SIMULATE and SNF simulations, and calculated values for the decay heat of the assembly containing the samples are also provided. For uncertainty propagation, the covariance information from three different nuclear data libraries are used. Uncertainties from manufacturing tolerances and operating conditions are also considered. The results from these two samples are compared with the ones from two UO2 samples, namely GU1 and GU3, also from the ARIANE program, applying the same calculation scheme and uncertainty assumptions. It is shown that a two-dimensional assembly model provides better agreement with the measurements than a two-dimensional single pin model, and that the full core three-dimensional model provides similar results compared to the assembly model, although no 148Nd normalization is applied for the full core model. For the MOX assembly decay heat, as expected, heavy actinides have a higher contribution compared to the cases with the UO2 samples; additionally, decay heat uncertainties are moderately smaller in the case of the MOX assembly.

The effect of nuclear data (fission yields, cross sections and emitted spectra) is quantified for spent nuclear fuel assemblies from a realistic boiling water reactor operated over 25 cycles. Nominal calculations are performed with the CASMO5, SIMULATE-3 and SNF codes and the ENDF/B-VII.0 nuclear data library. The uncertainties are calculated with the same codes, using a Monte Carlo propagation method, and the ENDF/B-VII.1 covariance matrices. The conclusions are that (1) the nuclear data have a non-negligible impact for spent fuel quantities (e.g., decay heat, neutron emission or isotopic contents); (2) the importance of varying all data together is demonstrated, showing an under- or overestimation of uncertainties if fission yields are sampled separately from the other nuclear data; and finally (3) the importance of considering the full irradiation history (multi-cycle assembly life) is also demonstrated, showing also an under- or overestimation of uncertainties when performing the nuclear data sampling for a single reactor cycle.

Benchmarking ENDF/B-VII.0

Comparison of FANT results using the ENDF/B-VII.1, JEFF-3.3 and TENDL2017 nuclear data libraries

The fast neutron fluence and the activation monitor activities are routinely calculated with TORT deterministic code and BUGLE-B7 nuclear data library with 47 broad energy groups. The objective of the paper is to analyse options to improve reactor dosimetry transport calculations. There are two paths to improve reactor dosimetry calculations. Increasing geometry, angular and energy mesh size is applicable for TORT code while using newer nuclear data libraries is relevant for both deterministic and Monte Carlo codes. Two new calculation options (improved TORT and Monte Carlo MCNP6) were compared with the standard TORT calculation for VVER-440 Dukovany Unit 3 Cycle 31. The fast neutron fluence with 0.5 MeV threshold as well as activity of Fe. Ni, Ti, Cu. Mn and Nb monitors were evaluated. Standard TORT calculations were improved from S16P3 to S30P3 with three times finer axial mesh size. 120° core symmetry r-ϑ mesh size with 0.5° step and fine multigroup libraries VUAMIN-B7 with 199 neutron energy groups and ENDF/B-VH.1 with 200 neutron energy groups. Both ENDFB and IRDFF activation cross sections were used. The drawback of expanded mesh size is raised calculation runtime since TORT deterministic code is not parallelized and one calculation can require multiple weeks of CPU time. An alternative option of using MCNP6 Monte Carlo code with continuous ENDF/B-VH.1 nuclear data with detailed 3-D geometry and pin-wise effective neutron source prepared by MOBY-DICK diffusion code reactor analysis wras explored. It was found that using finer mesh size affects reactor dosimetry’ tallies less than the choice of nuclear data library. BUGLE-B7 and VTTAMIN-B7 produce results typically within 1% difference. ENDF/B-VH.1 calculations with 200 neutron energy’ groups with TORT code are even in better agreement with MCNP6 calculations with continuous nuclear data libraries. The largest differences of around 2% were observed between VTTAMIN-B7 library based onENDFB-VH.O nuclear data and ENDF/B-VH.1 library. Nuclear data library’ has larger impact on the results with up to 7 % difference between all 0.5 MeV fast neutron fluence calculations. The largest intact of nuclear data was observed for Mn(n.2n) monitor.

WPEC Subgroup 44 computational Inter-comparison exercise on correlations in nuclear data libraries

cooled fast reactor systems, graphite moderated high temperature gas-cooled reactors, and several molten salt reactor models. At first, the similarity of the integral performance of the ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data libraries caused by compensating errors in important differential data was demonstrated. In calculations for a shipping container of high-assay low enriched uranium, the data of individual isotopes were systematically swapped between the two ENDF/B libraries. An eigenvalue difference of up to 450 pcm was found due to the use of 235U and 238U from one library and 1H and 16O from the other library. This clearly demonstrates a cross-correlation between reaction data sets of different isotopes within a library that should be reported in the evaluations. For sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) fuel assemblies, significant eigenvalue (kinf) differences (200– 450 pcm) were found between calculations using the 2011 ENDF/B-VII.1 data and 2018 ENDF/B-VIII.0 data. These differences were mainly caused by updates of 238U and 239Pu neutron cross sections. Results from the multigroup (MG) calculations further revealed that the group structure of the applied MG library strongly influences the MG bias due to the importance of an appropriate energy resolution of the resonances in higher energy ranges. The application of previously used MG libraries requires new verification for advanced reactor simulation in comparisons with reference continuous-energy calculations. Nuclear data uncertainty analyses of these SFR systems resulted in eigenvalue uncertainties between 1,400 and 1,800 pcm, which are three to four times higher than corresponding uncertainties in light water reactor (LWR) systems. The main contributor to this uncertainty was found to be inelastic scattering on 238U, which shows an uncertainty of up to 50% in the fast energy range. Other important contributors are the scattering reactions of 56Fe and 23Na which have so far not appeared in LWR analysis. Since the largest contribution to the eigenvalue uncertainty of SFR systems is coming from scattering reactions, it is expected that uncertainties in the angular scattering distributions also have a significant impact. Those uncertainties are, however, not available for the majority of nuclides, and the capabilities to determine sensitivities to this data are currently underdeveloped. For two graphite moderated high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) benchmarks, only the ENDF/BVII. 1 calculations resulted in consistent eigenvalues (keff) with the corresponding experimental measurements. Eigenvalue differences of about 1,000 pcm were found between the 2006 ENDF/B-VII.0 data and the 2011 ENDF/B-VII.1 data, primarily due to an updated carbon capture cross section in the thermal energy range in the later ENDF/B release. The ENDF/B-VIII.0 eigenvalue was larger than the ENDF/B-VII.1 eigenvalue by about 300 pcm mainly due to updates in multiple 235U neutron cross sections, with offsetting updates in the 238U cross sections. With ENDF/B-VIII.0, graphite can be modeled as perfect crystal or with two different porosities. The choice of the graphite evaluation can have a significant influence of the eigenvalue. For a HTGR benchmark, maximum eigenvalue differences as high as 650 pcm due to different porosities were observed. More detailed studies of the impact of the porosity are necessary while considering that the graphite porosity can vary between the used materials and changes as a function of neutron fluence. xii The uncertainty of the HTGR eigenvalues due to nuclear data uncertainties was found between 500 and 600 pcm, with the top contributor being the neutron multiplicity of 235U. A gap in the form of missing uncertainties in graphite thermal scattering data, that might have significant impact on HTGR reactors, was identified. This gap is being investigated by the DOE-NE Nuclear Data and Benchmarking Program, as documented in a separate report The fast spectrum molten salt reactor calculations revealed similar comparisons as for the SFR assemblies. The eigenvalue uncertainties were significantly influenced by inelastic scattering on 238U, while the impact of angular scattering distributions is unknown. For the graphite and zirconium hydride moderated system, eigenvalue uncertainties of up to 700 pcm were observed, requiring in depth analyses of the cross sections and corresponding uncertainties of the included materials. In general, it was observed that the flux spectra of the various molten salt reactor systems show significant differences, even between a fresh state and a depleted state. The choice of the energy group structure of MG calculations is therefore highly relevant; the applicability of previously used MG libraries needs to be verified. Due the unavailability of pin power measurements of advanced reactor systems, pin power calculations with both ENDF/B-VII.1 and VIII.0 data were performed for a light water reactor and compared to corresponding measurements. Both calculations show good agreement with the measurements. A comparison between the ENDF/B-VII.1 and VIII.0 results revealed small differences, mostly in the range of about 0.2%.

The D-T neutron skyshine experiments were carried out at the Fusion Neutronics Source (FNS) of JAERI with a port at the roof in March 2002 and March 2003. The concrete thickness of the roof and the wall of a FNS target room are 1.15 and 2 m, respectively. The FNS skyshine port with a size of 0.9 × 0.9 m2 was open during the experimental period. The source neutron intensity was -1.7 × 1011 n/s in those skyshine experiments. The highest total dose rate measured was about 0.5 μSv/h at a distance of 30 m from the D-T target point and the dose rate was attenuated to about 0.1 μSv/h at a distance of 100 m and 0.02 μSv/h at a distance of 550 m. Those experimental results were analyzed by Monte Carlo code MCNP-4C with the nuclear data library JENDL-3.2, where the FNS building and the measurement field were modeled with a simplified cylindrical geometry, and the pine forest was modeled by homogenized cell with a height of 10m. The MCNP calculation agreed well both neutron and secondary gamma-ray dose rate distributions.

The removal of decay heat is a significant safety concern in nuclear engineering for the operation of a nuclear reactor both in normal and accidental conditions and for intermediate and long term waste storage facilities. The correct evaluation of the decay heat produced by an irradiated material requires first of all the calculation of the composition of the irradiated material by depletion codes such as VESTA 2.1, currently under development at IRSN in France. A set of PWR assembly decay heat measurements performed by the Swedish Central Interim Storage Facility (CLAB) located in Oskarshamm (Sweden) have been calculated using different nuclear data libraries: ENDF/B-VII.0, JEFF-3.1, JEFF-3.2 and JEFF-3.3T1. Using these nuclear data libraries, VESTA 2.1 calculates the assembly decay heat for almost all cases within 4% of the measured decay heat. On average, the ENDF/B-VII.0 calculated decay heat values appear to give a systematic underestimation of only 0.5%. When using the JEFF-3.1 library, this results a systematic underestimation of about 2%. By switching to the JEFF-3.2 library, this systematic underestimation is improved slighty (up to 1.5%). The changes made in the JEFF-3.3T1 beta library appear to be overcorrecting, as the systematic underestimation is transformed into a systematic overestimation of about 1.5%.

New ENDF-6 formatted nuclear data libraries are presented for 204,206,207,208Pb and 209Bi, for incident neutrons and protons. Apart from the resonance range, which we have adopted from the best available source in existing libraries, the nuclear data evaluations are completely revised in the 0 to 20 MeV energy range and moreover extend up to 200 MeV. This collection of isotopic evaluations is created by using the nuclear model code TALYS with a consistent set of input parameters for all isotopes. The most important nuclear reaction models and parameters needed for our data files are described. We have intended to make these evaluations complete in their description of reaction channels, and use a consistent method to store the data in ENDF-6 format, which includes cross sections, angular distributions, double-differential spectra, discrete and continuum photon production cross sections, and residual production (activation) cross sections including isomers. It is shown that the data present in our libraries give an improved agreement with existing basic experimental data. Moreover, we have validated the new libraries with criticality and shielding benchmarks, where available. We present the results of neutronics calculations on subcritical accelerator-driven systems to show the impact of our new nuclear data on critical reactor parameters, such as keff, when compared with the existing ENDF/B-VI, JENDL, and JEFF libraries.

TENDL-2012 Processing, Verification and Validation Steps

Nuclear data libraries playian important role in the accuracy of neutronic aspect calculations, which determine various factors in a nuclear reactor design. Likewise, deterministic or Monte Carlo methods significantly affect the calculation results. Thus, the combination of nuclear data library and calculation methods needs to be studied carefully. This research will conduct neutronic analysis for the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) design, one of the Generation IV reactor types with advanced features for future energy resources, using the Monte Carlo-based program OpenMC and different nuclear data libraries. MSR will be designed for a 250 MWth power capacity, operable for five years. The fuel used will be LiF-BeF2 as a coolant and ThF4-UF4 as the fuel. The compositions for each fuel will be optimized to achieve critical conditions during five years of operation. This research aims to evaluate the use of differentinuclear data libraries on reactor criticality conditions, using the nuclear data libraries ENDF/VIII-B, ENDF/VII.0, JEFF 3.3, and JENDL 5.0. To perform the calculation and analysis, MSR chain depletion modification has to be done for different nuclear data libraries. Then, evaluation will be conducted on effective multiplicationifactor (k-eff), neutron flux spectrum, and cross-section. The results of this research show that the use of JENDL 5.0 provides more optimal critical conditions. This is due to the completeness of JENDL 5.0 nuclear data covering 795 nuclide data and higher fission cross-section values. While ENDF/VIII-B has 557 nuclide data evaluations compared to ENDF/VII.0’s 423 nuclide data, more stable k-eff values are shown for the use of ENDF nuclear data libraries. This research is expected to significantly contribute to meeting Indonesia’s energy needs by providing efficient solutions in MSR design in neutronic aspects using the most accurate nuclear data library.