Sensitivity of Calculations of ²⁵²Cf-Source-Driven Noise Analysis Measurements to Cross-Sections for Aqueous Fissile Plutonium Solutions

Conference · Mon Apr 11 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10128614

Valentine, Timothy E. ^[1]; Mihalczo, John T. ^[2]; Potter, Jeffrey W. ^[3]

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1. Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
3. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Previous experiments have shown large changes in noise-measured parameters for small changes in the measured configuration of fissile material. The sensitivity was investigated by the Monte Carlo code KENO-NR. This code calculates the noise data from the ²⁵²Cf-source-driven neutron noise measurement. These calculations have shown that noise-measured quantities are more sensitive to cross sections than the neutron multiplication factor by a factor of as much as ~50 for this fissile plutonium solution. This increased sensitivity means that for verifying calculational methods, a subcritical experiment at a k ~ 0.9 by the ²⁵²Cf-source-driven noise analysis method is more useful than experiments at k = 1.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 10128614
• Report Number(s): CONF-940407--7; ON: DE94007420
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

420203
663610
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
CALIFORNIUM 252
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
CROSS SECTIONS
Calculations
Cross-Power Spectral Densities (CPSDs)
FISSILE MATERIALS
HANDLING EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES
K CODES
MEASURING METHODS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
Monte Carlo Code KENO-NR
NEUTRON PHYSICS
NEUTRON SOURCES
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM NITRATES
Plutonium Solutions
SOLUTIONS
SUBCRITICALITY
Sensitivity