This is the investigation into The generation of high-fidelity multigroup multiband cross sections from Monte Carlo neutron transport simulations. Previous methods for generating multigroup multiband (MGMB) cross sections, and multigroup cross sections, assume an approximate shape for the scalar flux. This approximate flux shape is the product of an energy-dependent...
A Level 1 probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is applied to a plutonium button-making process, but in regards to the risk of diversion (or theft) of special nuclear material (SNM) rather than the risk of mechanical failure. The main objective of the project was to identify the relative vulnerability of areas...
During the past few decades, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has made significant investments to improve nuclear data libraries, as the quality of this data impacts nearly all analyses of nuclear systems. Nuclear fission product yields are one component of these libraries, and are important for the analysis of...
Interest in increased fuel supply stability has driven an investigation into possible alternate fuel for use in the WWR-SM research reactor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Uzbekistan. The WWR-SM is a high-power, pool-type research reactor currently utilizing IRT-4M fuel made by a single Russian supplier. A candidate for...
The high-order finite element S[subscript N] transport equations are solved on several test problems to investigate the behavior of the discretization method on meshes with curved edges in X-Y geometry. Simpler problems ensured the correct implementation of MFEM, the general fi nite element library employed. A convergence study using the...
With the advent of next generation reactor systems and new fuel designs, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has identified the need for the resumption of transient testing of nuclear fuels. The DOE has decided that the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is best suited...
There exists a variety of methods to solve the radiation transport equation in stochastic materials, including the Levermore-Pomraning method and the atomic mix method, each of which is designed to replicate the results given by benchmarks with materials rearranged in a randomized fashion. While the atomic mix method is very...
The implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) method [16] for radiative transfer, developed in 1971, provides numerical solutions to the tightly-coupled, highly-nonlinear radiative heat transfer equations in many physical situations. Despite its popularity, there are instances of overheating in the solution for particular choices of time steps and spatial grid sizes. To...
For over 30 years, the Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) method has been used to
solve challenging problems in thermal radiative transfer. These problems are typically optically thick and di ffusive, as a consequence of the high degree of "pseudo-scattering" introduced to model the absorption and reemission of photons from a...
Since the 1990s, researchers around the world have been creating antineutrino detectors for monitoring power reactors. These detectors have been deployed at light water reactors and are able to determine power levels and burn up throughout a fuel cycle. This technology could allow the IAEA to monitor LWRs remotely and...