Engineering topics

Briggs, J Blair

Publications and source records attributed to Briggs, J Blair.

3 records

DOE OSTI2012

BFS, a Legacy to the International Reactor Physics, Criticality Safety, and Nuclear Data Communities

Two Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) programs, the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) have been identifying existing integral experiment data, evaluating those data, and providing integral benchmark specifications for methods and data validation for nearly two decades. The Russian Federation, IPPE, and the BFS laboratories have made substantial contributions to those two projects. Contributions from the BFS facilities are highlighted in this paper.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2011

Identification of Integral Benchmarks for Nuclear Data Testing Using DICE (Database for the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments)

Typical users of the International Criticality Safety Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook have specific criteria to which they desire to find matching experiments. Depending on the application, those criteria may consist of any combination of physical or chemical characteristics and/or various neutronic parameters. The ICSBEP Handbook contains a structured format helping the user narrow the search for experiments of interest. However, with nearly 4300 different experimental configurations and the ever increasing addition of experimental data, the necessity to perform multiple criteria searches have rendered these features insufficient. As a result, a relational database was created with information extracted from the ICSBEP Handbook. A users’ interface was designed by OECD and DOE to allow the interrogation of this database. The database and the corresponding users’ interface are referred to as DICE. DICE currently offers the capability to perform multiple criteria searches that go beyond simple fuel, physical form and spectra and includes expanded general information, fuel form, moderator/coolant, neutron-absorbing material, cladding, reflector, separator, geometry, benchmark results, spectra, and neutron balance parameters. DICE also includes the capability to display graphical representations of neutron spectra, detailed neutron balance, sensitivity coefficients for capture, fission, elastic scattering, inelastic scattering, nu-bar and mu-bar, as well as several other features.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2011

Nuclear Data Performance Testing Using Sensitive, but Less Frequently Used ICSBEP Benchmarks

The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) has published the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments annually since 1995. The Handbook now spans over 51,000 pages with benchmark specifications for 4,283 critical, near critical, or subcritical configurations; 24 criticality alarm placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each; and 200 configurations that have been categorized as fundamental physics measurements relevant to criticality safety applications. Benchmark data in the ICSBEP Handbook were originally intended for validation of criticality safety methods and data; however, the benchmark specifications are now used extensively for nuclear data testing. There are several, less frequently used benchmarks within the Handbook that are very sensitive to thorium and certain key structural and moderating materials. Calculated results for many of those benchmarks using modern nuclear data libraries suggest there is still room for improvement. These and other highly sensitive, but rarely quoted benchmarks are highlighted and data testing results provided using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Version 5 (MCNP5) code and continuous energy ENDF/B-V, VI.8, and VII.0, JEFF-3.1, and JENDL-3.3 nuclear data libraries.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗