Benchmark On Sensitivity Calculation (Phase III)

Conference · Fri Apr 20 00:00:00 EDT 2012

OSTI ID:1041442

Ivanova, Tatiana ^[1]; Laville, Cedric ^[1]; Dyrda, James ^[2]; Mennerdahl, Dennis ^[3]; Golovko, Yury ^[4]; Raskach, Kirill ^[4]; Tsiboulia, Anatoly ^[4]; Lee, Gil Soo ^[5]; Woo, Sweng-Woong ^[5]; Bidaud, Adrien ^[6]; Patel, Amrit ^[7]; Bledsoe, Keith C. ^[7]; Rearden, Bradley T. ^[7]; Gulliford, J. ^[8]

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1. Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), Fontenay-aux-Roses (France)
2. Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom)
3. E. Mennerdahl Systems (EMS)
4. Leypunsky Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE), Obninsk (Russian Federation)
5. Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), Daejeon (South Korea)
6. University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble (France). Inst. National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique & Cosmologie (LPSC)
7. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
8. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris (France). Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)

The sensitivities of the _keff eigenvalue to neutron cross sections have become commonly used in similarity studies and as part of the validation algorithm for criticality safety assessments. To test calculations of the sensitivity coefficients, a benchmark study (Phase III) has been established by the OECD-NEA/WPNCS/EG UACSA (Expert Group on Uncertainty Analysis for Criticality Safety Assessment). This paper presents some sensitivity results generated by the benchmark participants using various computational tools based upon different computational methods: SCALE/TSUNAMI-3D and -1D, MONK, APOLLO2-MORET 5, DRAGON-SUSD3D and MMKKENO. The study demonstrates the performance of the tools. It also illustrates how model simplifications impact the sensitivity results and demonstrates the importance of 'implicit' (self-shielding) sensitivities. This work has been a useful step towards verification of the existing and developed sensitivity analysis methods.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), Daejeon (South Korea); Inst. for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom); Leypunsky Inst. of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE), Obninsk (Russian Federation); E. Mennerdahl Systems (EMS); University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble (France). Institute National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique & Cosmologie (LPSC); Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris (France). Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1041442
• Resource Relation: Conference: PHYSOR 2012 - Advances in Reactor Physics - Linking Research, Industry, and Education, Knoxville, TN (United States), 15-20 Apr 2012
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
ALGORITHMS
BENCHMARKS
CRITICALITY
CROSS SECTIONS
EDUCATION
EIGENVALUES
NEUTRONS
PERFORMANCE
REACTOR PHYSICS
SAFETY
SENSITIVITY
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
VALIDATION
VERIFICATION
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
OECD-NEA/WPNCS/EG UACSA
Tool Performance Demonstration
Sensitivity Results Influences
Implicit (Self-Shielding) Sensitivities