Progress on the reevaluation and validation of the n+233U neutron cross sections

Pigni, Marco T.; Capote, R.; Trkov, A.

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108595

Title: Progress on the reevaluation and validation of the n+233U neutron cross sections

Journal Article · 01 December 2021 · Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108595 · OSTI ID:1813225

^[1]; Capote, R. ^[2]; Trkov, A. ^[3]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna (Austria)
Jozef Stefan Inst. (IJS), Ljubljana (Slovenia)

The set of ²³³U resonance parameters of the ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data library was adopted from the previous ENDF/B-VII.1 evaluation using the external levels to update the thermal values. Adoption of IAEA 2017 thermal standards ( $σ_{f} = 533.0 \pm 2.2$ b, $σ_{c} = 44.9 \pm 0.9$ b, and ${\overline{ν}}_{tot} = 2.487 \pm 0.011$ ) and of the IAEA-recommended thermal-neutron induced prompt fission neutron spectrum (PFNS) with average PFNS energy of $2.030 \pm 0.013$ MeV requires a re-evaluation of ²³³U neutron cross sections in the resolved resonance region. A newly produced evaluation is being tested on benchmarks carefully selected from the Handbook of International Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments (ICSBEP) which are highly sensitive to ²³³U data. An important goal of this work was to eliminate the strong negative gradient of the calculated effective multiplication factors with respect to the epithermal fission fraction observed in the validation of the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library for those assemblies. A significant improvement in integral performance of critical ²³³U solutions is observed for the newly proposed evaluation. Further work addressing the fast neutron region is needed.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1813225

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1815070

Journal Information:: Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford), Vol. 163, Issue N/A; ISSN 0306-4549

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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