Nuclear Data and Benchmarking Program: Nuclear Data Performance Assessment for Advanced Reactors

Key Nuclear Data Impacting Reactivity in Advanced Reactors

“…Furthermore, the nuclear data of plutonium nuclides were deemed important for depleted fuel. In terms of the structural materials, the capture and scattering reactions in graphite and absorption in boron, as previously mentioned, were also found to be significant (Rochman et al 2017, Bostelmann and Strydom 2017, Bostelmann et al 2018a.…”

“…Fission, capture, and scattering of uranium (and plutonium nuclides in case of depleted fuel) were significant. Furthermore, various capture and scattering reactions of Li, F, and Be nuclides were deemed relevant due to the high abundance of FLiBe salt in this reactor (Rochman et al 2017, Bostelmann and Strydom 2017, Powers et al 2018, Bostelmann et al 2018a).…”

“…The review of various uncertainty analysis studies using sensitivity coefficients was especially useful in identifying nuclide reactions relevant for reactivity of graphite-moderated MSRs. The relevant nuclide reactions for the fuel salt show a significant overlap with the reactions found to be relevant for FHRs (Rochman et al 2017, Bostelmann and Strydom 2017, Power et al 2018, Bostelmann et al 2018a. Additionally, relevant nickel cross sections were included for cases in which Ni-based alloys are used as structural materials (Shen et al 2006).…”

“…The review of uncertainty analysis studies using sensitivity coefficients for this reactor type led to the identification of the neutron multiplicity, fission cross section, and capture cross section of various uranium and plutonium isotopes as important for analysis of this reactor type. Due to the large amount of the carrier salt NaCl in the reactor, the scattering and capture reactions of Na and Cl nuclides were also identified as relevant for the reactivity (Bostelmann et al 2018a). Updates of these Na and Cl cross sections as well as for uranium and plutonium cross sections between the ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 release can cause reactivity differences of a few hundred pcm (Bostelmann et al 2018a, Bostelmann et al 2019.…”

“…Due to the large amount of the carrier salt NaCl in the reactor, the scattering and capture reactions of Na and Cl nuclides were also identified as relevant for the reactivity (Bostelmann et al 2018a). Updates of these Na and Cl cross sections as well as for uranium and plutonium cross sections between the ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 release can cause reactivity differences of a few hundred pcm (Bostelmann et al 2018a, Bostelmann et al 2019.…”