Initial Verification and Validation of a New CASMO5 JENDL-5 Nuclear Data Library for Typical LWR Applications

Abstract

A new nuclear data library for the advanced lattice physics code CASMO5 has been prepared based on JENDL-5. In JENDL-5, the range of data, such as the number of nuclides, has been dramatically expanded for general-purpose applications. At the same time, many essential nuclides for conventional light water reactor (LWR) analysis have also been modified based on state-of-the-art evaluations. The new JENDL-5–based CASMO5 library was prepared by replacing as much of the nuclear data of the current CASMO5 ENDF/B-VII.1–based library as possible with JENDL-5. This study performs initial verification and validation of the new library under typical LWR conditions. Verifications were performed based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency burnup credit criticality safety benchmark phase III-C, and the calculated kinf and fuel compositions of the boiling water reactor fuel assembly were compared with reported benchmark results. Comparison with the MCNP6.2 result was also performed using the same benchmark model. In addition, a tank-type critical assembly critical experiment and Takahama-3 postirradiation experiment were used for validation. The results indicate that the new library performs well and is comparable to the ENDF/B-VII.1–based library in predictions of reactivity and fuel compositions for typical LWR systems.