Advancing the MCNP Unstructured Mesh Calculations at ORNL’s Second Target Station with Attila4MC-CottonwoodTM

Lukas Zavorka; Igor Remec; Andrew Cooper; Jonathan Rogers; Gregory Failla

doi:10.1080/00295639.2025.2551385

Advancing the MCNP Unstructured Mesh Calculations at ORNL’s Second Target Station with Attila4MC-Cottonwood^TM

Lukas Zavorka
, Igor Remec
, Andrew Cooper
, Jonathan Rogers
, Gregory Failla

STS Project Technical Systems

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Second Target Station (STS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source is designed to become the world’s highest peak brightness source of cold neutrons. To design a complex radiation facility such as the STS in a timely manner, the latest radiation transport computational tools are necessary. In this work we discuss the application the new Attila4MC ® mesh generator and the new Attila4MC-Cottonwood^TM variance reduction module, both developed by Silver Fir Software, Inc. The new tools were used to generate unstructured mesh geometry and coupled neutron-photon weight windows for the subsequent MCNP simulation of energy deposition, radiation damage, and prompt dose rate for several STS components with significantly increased efficiency.

Original language	English
Journal	Nuclear Science and Engineering
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2025.2551385
State	Accepted/In press - 2025

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Keywords

MCNP
Spallation Neutron Source
radiation shielding
unstructured mesh
weight windows

Access to Document

10.1080/00295639.2025.2551385

Cite this

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title = "Advancing the MCNP Unstructured Mesh Calculations at ORNL{\textquoteright}s Second Target Station with Attila4MC-CottonwoodTM",

abstract = "The Second Target Station (STS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory{\textquoteright}s Spallation Neutron Source is designed to become the world{\textquoteright}s highest peak brightness source of cold neutrons. To design a complex radiation facility such as the STS in a timely manner, the latest radiation transport computational tools are necessary. In this work we discuss the application the new Attila4MC {\textregistered} mesh generator and the new Attila4MC-CottonwoodTM variance reduction module, both developed by Silver Fir Software, Inc. The new tools were used to generate unstructured mesh geometry and coupled neutron-photon weight windows for the subsequent MCNP simulation of energy deposition, radiation damage, and prompt dose rate for several STS components with significantly increased efficiency.",

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AU - Cooper, Andrew

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AU - Failla, Gregory

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AB - The Second Target Station (STS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source is designed to become the world’s highest peak brightness source of cold neutrons. To design a complex radiation facility such as the STS in a timely manner, the latest radiation transport computational tools are necessary. In this work we discuss the application the new Attila4MC ® mesh generator and the new Attila4MC-CottonwoodTM variance reduction module, both developed by Silver Fir Software, Inc. The new tools were used to generate unstructured mesh geometry and coupled neutron-photon weight windows for the subsequent MCNP simulation of energy deposition, radiation damage, and prompt dose rate for several STS components with significantly increased efficiency.

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KW - weight windows

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