Reactivity worth measurement of the lead target on VENUS-II light water reactor and validation of evaluated nuclear data. (May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jiang, Wei; Gu, Long; Zhu, Qing-Fu; Zhou, Qi; Ma, Fei; Zhang, Lu; Liu, Yang; Li, Jin-Yang; Ge, Hong-Lin; Yu, Rui; Meng, Hai-Yan; Wang, Da-Wei; Dai, Yong; Chen, Liang
• Is Part Of: Annals of nuclear energy. Volume 154(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Subjects: Lead reactivity worth -- VENUS-II light water reactor -- Period method -- Monte Carle -- Nuclear data library; Nuclear energy -- Periodicals; Nuclear engineering -- Periodicals; 621.4805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2020.108106
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4549

Abstract

Highlights: Measurement of lead target reactivity worth was performed by a period method on the VENUS-II light water reactor. The reactivity worth of the lead target was calculated by MCNP with five different libraries. The simulated target worth results are in good agreement with the experimental result within errors. Through the perturbation analysis, the (n, el) reaction channel is most related to the positive reactivity worth of the lead target. Abstract: In this paper, the benchmark experiment of the lead reactivity worth was introduced in detail, which has been carried out under a super-critical state at the light water reactor of the VENUS-II experimental facility. The reactivity worth of the cylindrical lead target was measured and processed as 142.0 ± 11.3 pcm by the period method. In simulations, the reactivity worth of the lead target was calculated by MCNP6 with the five libraries, i.e., ENDF/B-VII.1, ENDF/B-VII.0, JENDL-4.0, CENDL-3.1 and JEFF-3.2. By comparisons, all the MCNP6 simulated results of the lead reactivity worth with the five libraries are in the good agreement with the experimental one within errors. Through the perturbation analysis, the (n, el) reaction channel is most related to the positive reactivity worth of the lead target. Additionally, the reaction rates of the (n, el), (n, inl) and (n, γ) channels were calculated by FM card in MCNP6. It is observed that the (n, γ) reaction rates from different libraries show the maximum difference, which is due to the discrepancy of the (n, γ) cross sections in the thermal neutron region. In conclusion, the lead cross sections from the main libraries in the world have been preliminarily validated based on the measurements, which lays the foundation for the engineering design of CIADS.