Uncertainty propagation from n+56Fe nuclear reaction model parameters to neutron multiplication factor. (1st December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Shengli; Vandermeersch, Elias; Tamagno, Pierre; Bernard, David; Noguere, Gilles; Blaise, Patrick
• Is Part Of: Annals of nuclear energy. Volume 163(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-12-01
• Subjects: Uncertainty propagation -- Nuclear model parameters -- Effective multiplication factor (keff) -- n+56Fe nuclear reactions -- Stainless steel reflector; Nuclear energy -- Periodicals; Nuclear engineering -- Periodicals; 621.4805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108553
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4549

Abstract

Abstract: Nuclear data are the main uncertainty sources for modern neutron transport calculations. However, complete correlation matrices among different nuclear data are not presented in the current evaluations. In order to completely consider that correlation between nuclear data, the present work propagates the covariance matrix of continuum n+ 56 Fe reaction model parameters to the effective neutron multiplication factor ( keff ) of a thermal neutron spectrum benchmark and a fast neutron spectrum benchmark. Results show that the uncertainty propagated from angular distribution is not negligible. The general correlations between angular distributions and cross sections of 56 Fe for neutron energies above 850 keV are respectively −0.39 ± 0.05 and −1.02 ± 0.02 for keff calculation in the thermal and fast benchmarks, respectively. These correlations reveal the importance of a complete correlation matrix of nuclear data for propagating uncertainties to neutronic calculations.