Luiz Leal

Impact of 235U Resonance Parameter Evaluation in the Reactivity Prediction

Abstract Resonance parameter evaluation of the 235U cross sections using the Reich-Moore formalism was done with the computer code SAMMY from 0 to 2.25 keV to address issues with capture cross-section and standard fission cross-section values. The evaluation includes recent capture and fission cross-section measurements as well as high-resolution data used in previous 235U evaluation. Moreover the new 235U resonance parameter evaluation has been used in the calculation of a new benchmark experiment performed at the IPEN/MB-01 research reactor. The experiment, named the inversion point of the isothermal reactivity coefficient, is used to test temperature effects at low temperature. The results demonstrate that the new 235U evaluation has greatly improved the prediction of reactivity temperature coefficient in contrast to previous evaluations. This paper is outlined in two parts, namely the first part deals with the description of the 235U resonance analysis and evaluation up to 2.25 keV, and the second part presents the results of the isothermal reactivity coefficient calculations performed on the IPEN/MB-01 reactor.

A New Method for Generating Probability Tables in the Unresolved Resonance Region

Abstract A new method for constructing probability tables in the unresolved resonance region (URR) has been developed. This new methodology is an extensive modification of the single-level Breit-Wigner (SLBW) pseudo-resonance pair sequence method commonly used to generate probability tables in the URR. The new method uses a Monte Carlo process to generate many pseudo-resonance sequences by first sampling the average resonance parameter data in the URR and then converting the sampled resonance parameters to the more robust R-matrix limited (RML) format. For each sampled set of pseudo-resonance sequences, the temperature-dependent cross sections are reconstructed on a small grid around the energy of reference using the Reich-Moore formalism and the Leal-Hwang Doppler broadening methodology. The effective cross sections calculated at the energies of reference are then used to construct probability tables in the URR. The RML cross-section reconstruction algorithm has been rigorously tested for a variety of isotopes, including 16O, 19F, 35Cl, 56Fe, 63Cu, and 65Cu. The new URR method also produced normalized cross-section factor probability tables for 238U that were found to be in agreement with current standards. The modified 238U probability tables were shown to produce results in excellent agreement with several standard benchmarks, including the IEU-MET-FAST-007 (BIG TEN), IEU-MET-FAST-003, and IEU-COMP-FAST-004 benchmarks.