Use of shielding integral benchmark archive and database for nucleardata validation

I Kodeli,O Cabellos,L Leal,Z Ge,W Wang,Y Chen,N Shu,H Zhang

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202023918001

Abstract

Shielding benchmarks were extensively used for the validation and improvement of nuclear data since many years. Recent evaluations however mostly rely on the validation using critical benchmarks, which can introduce biases and compensation effects. A new Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation Subgroup 47 (WPEC SG47) entitled "Use of Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database for Nuclear Data Validation" was started in June 2019 with the objective to promote further development and use of Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD) and thus contribute to the diversification of the nuclear data validation practice by including more extensively other types of integral measurements, such as shielding benchmarks, in the validation and evaluation procedure. Use of shielding benchmarks is expected to provide a wider-scope test of the performance of the evaluated nuclear data and would ultimately contribute to a production of more general-purpose cross-section evaluations.

Highlights

The Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD) project [1,2,3,4,5,6] started in the early 1990’s as a collaboration between the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency Data Bank (OECD/NEADB) and the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with the goal to preserve the information on the performed radiation shielding benchmarks and make them available in a standardised form to the international community
Cooperation with other NEA activities [8] such as WPEC SG45 (Validation of Nuclear Data Libraries (VaNDaL) Project), SG46 (Efficient and Effective Use of Integral Experiments for ND Validation), JEFF [9] and European Comission (EC) projects such as SANDA and EUROfusion is likewise important in order to study and recommend the proper mathematical and physics procedures to integrate these data in the ND evaluation process and avoid their misuse
A neutronics benchmark experiment on a pure Copper assembly [14] was performed end 2014 - beginning 2015 at the 14-MeV Frascati neutron generator (FNG) of ENEA Frascati with the objective to provide the experimental database required for the validation of the copper nuclear cross-section data relevant for ITER design calculations, including the related uncertainties

Summary

Introduction

The Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD) project [1,2,3,4,5,6] started in the early 1990’s as a collaboration between the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency Data Bank (OECD/NEADB) and the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with the goal to preserve the information on the performed radiation shielding benchmarks and make them available in a standardised form to the international community. In addition to the characterization of the radiation source, description of shielding set-up, instrumentation and the relevant detectors, most sets in SINBAD contain the deterministic or probabilistic (Monte Carlo) radiation transport computer model used for the interpretation of the experiment and, where available, results from uncertainty analysis. The database is intended for different users, including nuclear data evaluators, computer code developers, exper-

WPEC SG47

Present status and quality review

Candidates for future SINBAD evaluations

Recent SINBAD evaluations - FNG Copper Benchmark

Findings

Conclusions