Comparison of Standard Light Water Reactor Cross-Section Libraries using the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Pressurized Water Reactor Standard Core Loading Benchmark Problem

Westinghouse Electric Company, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Suite 332, Cranberry Township, PA 16066, USA

^a Corresponding author: alpanfa@westinghouse.com

Published online: 3 February 2016

Abstract

This paper compares contemporary and historical light water reactor shielding and pressure vessel dosimetry cross-section libraries for a pressurized water reactor calculational benchmark problem with a standard out-in core loading. The calculational benchmark problem was developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory by the request of the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and used the Oak Ridge National Laboratory two-dimensional discrete ordinates code DORT and the BUGLE-93 cross-section library for the calculations. In this paper, a Westinghouse three-dimensional discrete ordinates code with parallel processing, the RAPTOR-M3G code was used. A variety of cross section libraries were used with RAPTOR-M3G including the BUGLE-93, BUGLE-96, and BUGLE-B7 cross-section libraries developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the broad-group ALPAN-VII.0 cross-section library developed at Westinghouse. In comparing the calculation-to-calculation reaction rates using the BUGLE-93 cross-section library at the thermal shield, pressure vessel, and cavity capsules, for eleven dosimetry reaction rates, a maximum relative difference of 5% was observed, with the exception of ⁶⁵Cu(n,2n) in the pressure vessel capsule that had a 90% relative difference with respect to the reference results. It is thought that the ⁶⁵Cu(n,2n) reaction rate reported in the reference for the pressure vessel capsule is not correct. In considering the libraries developed after BUGLE-93, a maximum relative difference of 12% was observed in reaction rates, with respect to the reference results, for ²³⁷Np(n,f) in the cavity capsule using BUGLE-B7.