Study of the Sensitivity of Calculations for Fast Reactors Fueled with Pu²³⁹-U²³³ and U²³⁸-Th to Uncertainties in Nuclear Data

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1962

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4780071· OSTI ID:4780071

Gandini, A. ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Comitato Nazionale per l'Energia Nucleare (CNEN) (Italy)

The effects of uncertainties of nuclear data on the calculation of integral quantities for some fast breeder systems were evaluated. The integral quantities chosen were reactivity, initial breeding ratio, and initial internal breeding ratio. The fuels chosen were Pu²³⁹-U²³⁸, both as metal and oxide, and U²³³-Th as oxide. The importance of propagation of errors on the uncertainty in reactivity was determined. Results indicated that because of inaccuracies in the values of nuclear parameters as known within the present state of the art the deviations of the calculated reactivities should be about, and possibly larger than, 2% Δk/k for all the medium and large systems considered. The deviation of the initial breading ratio is 3.5%, and for the initial internal breeding ratio it is about 5%. The consequent uncertainty in the calculated critical mass is of the order of 4%.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-38
• NSA Number: NSA-17-000701
• OSTI ID: 4780071
• Report Number(s): ANL-6608
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BREEDING
BREEDING RATIO
CRITICALITY
CROSS SECTIONS
ERRORS
FAST NEUTRONS
FUELS
MASS
MATHEMATICS
METALS
NUCLEAR STRUCTURE
OXIDES
PLUTONIUM 239
REACTIVITY
REACTORS
THORIUM
URANIUM 233
URANIUM 238
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Fast Breeder
Breeding Ratio
Critical Mass