Benchmark calculations for some Los Alamos oralloy critical experiments

Technical Report · Fri Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10120434· OSTI ID:10120434

In late 1976, LANL personnel performed are accurate measurement to determine the critical mass of a sphere of highly enriched uranium (oralloy) when reflected by water. This experiment has been used previously to benchmark the MCNP and KENO Monte Carlo codes. However, these benchmark calculations were performed for idealizations of the experiment and involved significant approximations. In contrast, the analysis reported herein is based on a detailed representation of the actual experiment and a set of recently published isotopic specifications for the sphere. Differences between the results from this study and those from the earlier benchmark calculations are related to specific aspects of those calculations.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 10120434
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--93-4097; CONF-940482--2; ON: DE94006211
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050700
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
42 ENGINEERING
420203
663470
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BENCHMARKS
CRITICAL MASS
CRITICALITY
FISSION
FUELS PRODUCTION AND PROPERTIES
HANDLING EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
SPHERES
THEORETICAL DATA