skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: MCNP6 Modification for the Calculation of Rossi and Feynman Distributions

Journal Article · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
OSTI ID:23042788
;  [1]
  1. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States)

The Rossi distribution is given by the number of captured neutron pairs as a function of the time interval between the two capture events. This distribution contains a random part, which is given by neutron captures caused by neutrons of different fission chains, and a correlated part, which is given by neutron captures caused by neutrons from the same fission chain. The correlated part exponentially vanishes with the {Delta}t time interval following the decay of prompt neutrons. The Rossi distribution peaks when the time interval between two capture events is small since this condition is satisfied for neutrons generated from the same fission chain. In the Poisson probability distribution, the variance is equal to the mean and the next event probability is independent of the elapsed time since the previous event. Neutron captures events do not follow the Poisson probability distribution because they are correlated events via fission chains. Consequently, the Feynman distribution Y is defined as the variance to mean ratio minus one, of the neutron counts array as a function of a fixed time interval. The MCNP6 source code has been modified to allow the calculation of the Rossi and Feynman distributions. The source code modification takes into account the time when a neutron is emitted by the external neutron source and gives a precision in the timestamp lower than a fraction of nanosecond. The modified MCNP6 version has been used to model KUKA facility driven by a californium neutron source. The prompt neutron decay constants obtained by the Rossi and Feynman methods are in agreement.

OSTI ID:
23042788
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 115; Conference: 2016 ANS Winter Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 6-10 Nov 2016; Other Information: Country of input: France; 8 refs.; available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US); ISSN 0003-018X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English