Dose Rate Evaluation for the ES-3100 Package with HEU Content Using MCNP, ADVANTG, Monaco, and MAVRIC

Journal Article · Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Nuclear Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1533319· OSTI ID:1499102

Paul, Pran K.  ^[1]

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1. Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Here, this paper presents a comparative study of dose rate calculations for the ES-3100 package with highly enriched uranium (HEU) content for different source configurations using computer codes: (1) MCNP; (2) Automated Variance Reduction Generator (ADVANTG)/MCNP; (3) Monaco; and (4) Monaco with Automated Variance Reduction using Importance Calculations (MAVRIC). The Model ES-3100 package was developed at the Y-12 National Security Complex for domestic and international transportation of Type B fissile radioactive material. In this study, six different source configurations (i.e., solid cylinder, cylindrical hemi-shell, cylindrical shell, rectangular plate, cylindrical rod, or cylindrical segment form) having 36 kg of HEU metal inside the package containment vessel (based on configurations in the ES-3100/HEU safety analysis report for packaging) are evaluated. Dose rates at the package surfaces and 1 m from the package surfaces are calculated for these different source configurations. MCNP and Monaco cases are run without any biasing options to accelerate the convergence. Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (CADIS) and Forward-Weighted CADIS (FW-CADIS) methods developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are implemented in ADVANTG/MCNP and MAVRIC codes to accelerate the convergence. ADVANTG generates variance reduction parameters using Denovo code, and MCNP is used with the variance reduction parameters to accelerate the convergence. MAVRIC uses Denovo code to construct an importance map and a biased source distribution that are supplied to Monaco to accelerate the Monte Carlo simulation. The FW-CADIS option in ADVANTG and MAVRIC is used to accelerate the convergence in this study. The accelerated convergence cases (ADVANTG/MCNP and MAVRIC) are about 100 times faster with 100 times less particle simulation than those cases run without biasing options (analog MCNP and analog Monaco). Lastly, the MCNP, ADVANTG/MCNP, Monaco, and MAVRIC calculated dose rates at the package surfaces and at 1 m from the package surfaces for the different source configurations are compared and are found to be in general agreement.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (Y-12), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: NA0001942
• OSTI ID: 1499102
• Report Number(s): IROS-6333
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology, Vol. 205, Issue 6; ISSN 0029-5450
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis - formerly American Nuclear Society (ANS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
Monte Carlo calculation
shielding evaluation
ES-3100 package