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Title: Experimental and computational benchmark tests

Conference ·
OSTI ID:68746

A program involving principally NIST, LANL, and ORNL has been in progress for about four years now to establish a series of benchmark measurements and calculations related to the moderation and leakage of {sup 252}Cf neutrons from a source surrounded by spherical aqueous moderators of various thicknesses and compositions. The motivation for these studies comes from problems in criticality calculations concerning arrays of multiplying components, where the leakage from one component acts as a source for the other components. This talk compares experimental and calculated values for the fission rates of four nuclides - {sup 235}U, {sup 239}Pu, {sup 238}U, and {sup 237}Np - in the leakage spectrum from moderator spheres of diameters 76.2 mm, 101.6 mm, and 127.0 mm, with either pure water or enriched B-10 solutions as the moderator. Very detailed Monte Carlo calculations were done with the MCNP code, using a {open_quotes}light water{close_quotes} S({alpha},{beta}) scattering kernel.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
OSTI ID:
68746
Report Number(s):
LA-12556-C; CONF-9205206-; ON: DE95000557; TRN: 95:002821-0011
Resource Relation:
Conference: DOE nuclear criticality safety technology project workshop, Gaithersburg, MD (United States), 12-14 May 1992; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the first annual Nuclear Criticality Safety Technology Project; Rutherford, D.A. [comp.]; PB: 251 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English