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Title: A method for reducing the largest relative errors in Monte Carlo iterated-fission-source calculations

Conference ·
OSTI ID:22212916
 [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., 24-107, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
  2. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation, P. O. Box 1072, Schenectady, NY 12301-1072 (United States)

In Monte Carlo iterated-fission-source calculations relative uncertainties on local tallies tend to be larger in lower-power regions and smaller in higher-power regions. Reducing the largest uncertainties to an acceptable level simply by running a larger number of neutron histories is often prohibitively expensive. The uniform fission site method has been developed to yield a more spatially-uniform distribution of relative uncertainties. This is accomplished by biasing the density of fission neutron source sites while not biasing the solution. The method is integrated into the source iteration process, and does not require any auxiliary forward or adjoint calculations. For a given amount of computational effort, the use of the method results in a reduction of the largest uncertainties relative to the standard algorithm. Two variants of the method have been implemented and tested. Both have been shown to be effective. (authors)

Research Organization:
American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
OSTI ID:
22212916
Resource Relation:
Conference: M and C 2013: 2013 International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering, Sun Valley, ID (United States), 5-9 May 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 11 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering - M and C 2013| 3016 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English