A MCNP simulation study of neutronic calculations of spallation targets

Abstract

The accelerator driven system is an innovative reactor which is being considered as a dedicated high-level waste burner. The function of the spallation target in accelerator driven system is to convert the incident high-energy particle beam to low-energy neutrons. One of the quantities of most interest for practical purposes is the number of neutrons produced per proton in a spallation target. However, this vital value depends not only on the material, but on the size of the target as well, due to the internuclear cascade. The MCNPX 2.4 code can be used for spallation target computation. Some benchmark results have been compared with MCNPX 2.4 simulations to verify the code's potential for calculating various parameters of an accelerator driven system target. Using the computation method, neutron interaction processes such as loss, capture and (n, xn) into a spallation target have been studied for W, Ta, Pb, Bi, and LBE spallation targets in different target dimensions. With relative errors less than 10%, the numerical simulation provided by the MCNPX code agrees qualitatively with other simulation results previously carried out, qualifying it for spallation calculations. Among the studied targets, W and Ta targets resulted in a higher neutron spallation yield using lesser target dimensions. Pb, Bi, and LBE spallation targets behave similarly regarding the accessible leaked neutron yield on the outer surface of the spallation target. By use of a thicker target, LBE can compete with both W and Ta targets regarding the neutron yield parameter

Qualification of the ANET Code for Spallation Neutron Yield and Core Criticality in the KUCA ADS

“…Typical codes used for the spallation reaction simulation include FLUKA [1] [2] and MCNPX [3] [4] [5], while several neutronics codes are utilized for the neutronic/thermal-hydraulic subcritical core analysis, e.g. [6].…”

Development of a dynamic stochastic neutronics code for the analysis of conventional and hybrid nuclear reactors

“…MCNPX 2.4 simulations were used by (Feghhi et al, 2013) for the comparison with benchmark results to verify the code's potential for calculating various parameters of an accelerator driven system target. Using the computation method, neutron interaction processes such as loss, capture and (n,xn) into a spallation target have been studied for W, Ta, Pb, Bi, and LBE spallation targets in different target dimensions.…”

“…Obviously the necessity for precise simulations of a nuclear reactor especially in case of complex core and fuel configurations triggered the increasing use of Monte (Ren et al, 2013), (Mantha et al, 2007) and MCNPX (Feghhi et al 2013), (Louis et al, 2012), (Barros et al 2012) while several neutronic codes are utilized for the neutronic / thermo-hydraulic subcritical core analysis, e.g. (Meloni et al, 2008).…”