Nuclear Data Sensitivity Study for the EBR-II Fast Reactor Benchmark Using SCALE with ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 †

Friederike Bostelmann; Germina Ilas; William A. Wieselquist

doi:10.3390/jne2040028

Nuclear Data Sensitivity Study for the EBR-II Fast Reactor Benchmark Using SCALE with ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 †

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11 Scopus citations

Abstract

The EBR-II benchmark, which was recently included in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments, served as a basis for assessing the performance of the SCALE code system for fast reactor analyses. A reference SCALE model was developed based on the benchmark specifications. Great agreement was observed between the eigenvalue calculated with this SCALE model and the benchmark eigenvalue. To identify potential gaps and uncertainties of nuclear data for the simulation of various quantities of interest in fast spectrum systems, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were performed for the eigenvalue, reactivity effects, and the radial power profile of EBR-II using the two most recent ENDF/B nuclear data library releases. While the nominal results are consistent between the calculations with the different libraries, the uncertainties due to nuclear data vary significantly. The major driver of observed uncertainties is the uncertainty of the (Formula presented.) U (n, (Formula presented.)) reaction. Since the uncertainty of this reaction is significantly reduced in the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library compared to ENDF/B-VII.1, the obtained output uncertainties tend to be smaller in ENDF/B-VIII.0 calculations, although the decrease is partially compensated by increased uncertainties in (Formula presented.) U fission and (Formula presented.).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	345-367
Number of pages	23
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Engineering
Volume	2
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/jne2040028
State	Published - Dec 2021

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract 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 ( https://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). Support for this work was provided by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This research was funded by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission under contract IAA 31310019N0009 for nuclear data assessment for advanced reactors.

Keywords

EBR-II
SCALE
criticality
sensitivity analysis
uncertainty analysis

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10.3390/jne2040028

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title = "Nuclear Data Sensitivity Study for the EBR-II Fast Reactor Benchmark Using SCALE with ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 †",

abstract = "The EBR-II benchmark, which was recently included in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments, served as a basis for assessing the performance of the SCALE code system for fast reactor analyses. A reference SCALE model was developed based on the benchmark specifications. Great agreement was observed between the eigenvalue calculated with this SCALE model and the benchmark eigenvalue. To identify potential gaps and uncertainties of nuclear data for the simulation of various quantities of interest in fast spectrum systems, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were performed for the eigenvalue, reactivity effects, and the radial power profile of EBR-II using the two most recent ENDF/B nuclear data library releases. While the nominal results are consistent between the calculations with the different libraries, the uncertainties due to nuclear data vary significantly. The major driver of observed uncertainties is the uncertainty of the (Formula presented.) U (n, (Formula presented.)) reaction. Since the uncertainty of this reaction is significantly reduced in the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library compared to ENDF/B-VII.1, the obtained output uncertainties tend to be smaller in ENDF/B-VIII.0 calculations, although the decrease is partially compensated by increased uncertainties in (Formula presented.) U fission and (Formula presented.).",

keywords = "EBR-II, SCALE, criticality, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty analysis",

author = "Friederike Bostelmann and Germina Ilas and Wieselquist, \{William A.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 by the authors.",

year = "2021",

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doi = "10.3390/jne2040028",

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T1 - Nuclear Data Sensitivity Study for the EBR-II Fast Reactor Benchmark Using SCALE with ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 †

AU - Bostelmann, Friederike

AU - Ilas, Germina

AU - Wieselquist, William A.

PY - 2021/12

Y1 - 2021/12

N2 - The EBR-II benchmark, which was recently included in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments, served as a basis for assessing the performance of the SCALE code system for fast reactor analyses. A reference SCALE model was developed based on the benchmark specifications. Great agreement was observed between the eigenvalue calculated with this SCALE model and the benchmark eigenvalue. To identify potential gaps and uncertainties of nuclear data for the simulation of various quantities of interest in fast spectrum systems, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were performed for the eigenvalue, reactivity effects, and the radial power profile of EBR-II using the two most recent ENDF/B nuclear data library releases. While the nominal results are consistent between the calculations with the different libraries, the uncertainties due to nuclear data vary significantly. The major driver of observed uncertainties is the uncertainty of the (Formula presented.) U (n, (Formula presented.)) reaction. Since the uncertainty of this reaction is significantly reduced in the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library compared to ENDF/B-VII.1, the obtained output uncertainties tend to be smaller in ENDF/B-VIII.0 calculations, although the decrease is partially compensated by increased uncertainties in (Formula presented.) U fission and (Formula presented.).

AB - The EBR-II benchmark, which was recently included in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments, served as a basis for assessing the performance of the SCALE code system for fast reactor analyses. A reference SCALE model was developed based on the benchmark specifications. Great agreement was observed between the eigenvalue calculated with this SCALE model and the benchmark eigenvalue. To identify potential gaps and uncertainties of nuclear data for the simulation of various quantities of interest in fast spectrum systems, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were performed for the eigenvalue, reactivity effects, and the radial power profile of EBR-II using the two most recent ENDF/B nuclear data library releases. While the nominal results are consistent between the calculations with the different libraries, the uncertainties due to nuclear data vary significantly. The major driver of observed uncertainties is the uncertainty of the (Formula presented.) U (n, (Formula presented.)) reaction. Since the uncertainty of this reaction is significantly reduced in the ENDF/B-VIII.0 library compared to ENDF/B-VII.1, the obtained output uncertainties tend to be smaller in ENDF/B-VIII.0 calculations, although the decrease is partially compensated by increased uncertainties in (Formula presented.) U fission and (Formula presented.).

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KW - SCALE

KW - criticality

KW - sensitivity analysis

KW - uncertainty analysis

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Nuclear Data Sensitivity Study for the EBR-II Fast Reactor Benchmark Using SCALE with ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 †

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