Nuclear data for well logging

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5759341

Gardner, R P; Verghese, K ^[1]

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1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh (United States)

Nuclear well logging has a long history in the use of mathematical modeling techniques for elucidation of principles, calibration and/or log interpretation, and tool design. More recent modeling efforts use numerical solutions to the neutron and gamma-ray transport equations and Monte Carlo simulation for these and other nuclear logs such as the gamma-ray lithodensity and prompt neutron activation spectral logs. The Monte Carlo codes generally required detailed fine-group and/or point (energy) neutron cross sections, prompt gamma-ray yields for the (n,{gamma}) reactions, angular distribution data for elastic neutron scattering, inelastic neutron scattering levels and gamma-ray yields, and fine-group and/or point (energy) gamma-ray cross sections. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has long served as a focal point for identifying the nuclear data needs in this area. An earlier paper by the authors on data requirements for radioisotope-excited gauges and analyzers concentrated on data for specific-purpose Monte Carlo codes. Later, they introduced a Monte Carlo computational benchmark problem for the neutron porosity log that was of immediate interest. Initial calculations with the general-purpose Monte Carlo codes McBEND and MCNP and the specific purpose code McDNL on that benchmark problem indicated serious discrepancies. This led the authors to hold a seminar and workshop to address these discrepancies and investigate other potential Monte Carlo simulation problems for nuclear well logs. Results are reported.

• OSTI ID: 5759341
• Report Number(s): CONF-910603--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050100 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Reserves
Exploration
& Mining
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
440400* -- Well Logging Instrumentation
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990301 -- Information Handling-- Data Handling-- (1992-)
BARYON REACTIONS
BENCHMARKS
CALIBRATION
COMPUTER CODES
CROSS SECTIONS
D CODES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
ELASTIC SCATTERING
EQUATIONS
EQUIPMENT
GAMMA TRANSPORT THEORY
GEOPHYSICS
HADRON REACTIONS
IAEA
INELASTIC SCATTERING
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
LITHOLOGY
M CODES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
MULTIGROUP THEORY
NEUTRON DIFFUSION EQUATION
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NEUTRON TRANSPORT THEORY
NUCLEAR DATA COLLECTIONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON REACTIONS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
SCATTERING
SHIELDING
TRANSPORT THEORY
WELL LOGGING
WELL LOGGING EQUIPMENT