Neutronic and burn‐up calculations of the ( ThO2‐UO2 ) pin cell benchmark using DRAGON5 and MCNP6 .2 codes with ENDF / B‐VIII .0 nuclear data library

Abstract

Summary A (ThO2‐UO2) fuel pin benchmark, consisting of 75 w/o Th and 25 w/o U, was utilized for analysis of depletion and inventory of the fuel for the pressurized water reactor (PWR) pin‐cell model. To perform this study and evaluate cross‐section data, the new version VIII.0 of the ENDF/B nuclear data library was utilized to generate a data set in ACE (A Compact ENDF) format at different temperatures (583.1, 600, 621.1, and 900 K), utilizing NJOY2016 and MAKXSF6.2 codes to process the data at the specific temperatures. In this paper, the infinite multiplication factor (kinf), neutron energy flux spectrum (utilizing 172 energy groups), the concentrations and activities of the most important products of fission, the actinide radionuclides accumulated in the pin‐cell, and the total radioactivity were calculated and compared, utilizing the MCNP6.2 and DRAGON5 codes. Furthermore, the burn‐up (BU) dependent behavior of the PWR thorium pin‐cell was validated and compared with the reference results obtained utilizing the CASMO‐4, MIT‐MOCUP, and INEEL‐MOCUP codes. The results of this study show good agreements between all codes analysed.