Quantifying the effect of undersampling in Monte Carlo simulations using SCALE

Christopher M. Perfetti, Bradley T. Rearden

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study explores the effect of undersampling in Monte Carlo calculations on tally estimates and tally variance estimates for burnup credit applications. Steady-state Monte Carlo simulations were performed for models of several critical systems with varying degrees of spatial and isotopic complexity, and the impact of undersampling on eigenvalue and flux estimates was examined. Using an inadequate number of particle histories in each generation was found to produce a bias of about 100 pcm in eigenvalue estimates and biases that exceeded 10% in fuel pin flux estimates.

Original languageEnglish
StatePublished - 2014
Event2014 International Conference on Physics of Reactors, PHYSOR 2014 - Kyoto, Japan
Duration: Sep 28 2014Oct 3 2014

Conference

Conference2014 International Conference on Physics of Reactors, PHYSOR 2014
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityKyoto
Period09/28/1410/3/14

Funding

* This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. This work was supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, funded and managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration for DOE.

Keywords

  • KENO
  • Monte Carlo
  • SCALE
  • Tally biases
  • Underprediction of variance

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