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Title: Enhancements to the MCNP6 background source

Abstract

The particle transport code MCNP has been used to produce a background radiation data file on a worldwide grid that can easily be sampled as a source in the code. Location-dependent cosmic showers were modeled by Monte Carlo methods to produce the resulting neutron and photon background flux at 2054 locations around Earth. An improved galactic-cosmic-ray feature was used to model the source term as well as data from multiple sources to model the transport environment through atmosphere, soil, and seawater. A new elevation scaling feature was also added to the code to increase the accuracy of the cosmic neutron background for user locations with off-grid elevations. Furthermore, benchmarking has shown the neutron integral flux values to be within experimental error.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1235894
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-14-29240
Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Technology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 192; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
Publisher:
American Nuclear Society (ANS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY; MCNP6; cosmic-ray; background

Citation Formats

McMath, Garrett E., and McKinney, Gregg W. Enhancements to the MCNP6 background source. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.13182/NT14-134.
McMath, Garrett E., & McKinney, Gregg W. Enhancements to the MCNP6 background source. United States. https://doi.org/10.13182/NT14-134
McMath, Garrett E., and McKinney, Gregg W. Mon . "Enhancements to the MCNP6 background source". United States. https://doi.org/10.13182/NT14-134. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1235894.
@article{osti_1235894,
title = {Enhancements to the MCNP6 background source},
author = {McMath, Garrett E. and McKinney, Gregg W.},
abstractNote = {The particle transport code MCNP has been used to produce a background radiation data file on a worldwide grid that can easily be sampled as a source in the code. Location-dependent cosmic showers were modeled by Monte Carlo methods to produce the resulting neutron and photon background flux at 2054 locations around Earth. An improved galactic-cosmic-ray feature was used to model the source term as well as data from multiple sources to model the transport environment through atmosphere, soil, and seawater. A new elevation scaling feature was also added to the code to increase the accuracy of the cosmic neutron background for user locations with off-grid elevations. Furthermore, benchmarking has shown the neutron integral flux values to be within experimental error.},
doi = {10.13182/NT14-134},
journal = {Nuclear Technology},
number = 3,
volume = 192,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}