The Dilution Dependency of Multigroup Uncertainties

Abstract

The propagation of nuclear data uncertainties through reactor physics calculation has received attention through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development—Nuclear Energy Agency’s Uncertainty Analysis in Modelling (UAM) benchmark. A common strategy for performing lattice physics uncertainty analysis involves starting with nuclear data and covariance matrix which is typically available at infinite dilution. To describe the uncertainty of all multigroup physics parameters—including those at finite dilution—additional calculations must be performed that relate uncertainties in an infinite dilution cross-section to those at the problem dilution. Two potential methods for propagating dilution-related uncertainties were studied in this work. The first assumed a correlation between continuous-energy and multigroup cross-sectional data and uncertainties, which is convenient for direct implementation in lattice physics codes. The second is based on a more rigorous approach involving the Monte Carlo sampling of resonance parameters in evaluated nuclear data using the TALYS software. When applied to a light water fuel cell, the two approaches show significant differences, indicating that the assumption of the first method did not capture the complexity of physics parameter data uncertainties. It was found that the covariance of problem-dilution multigroup parameters for selected neutron cross-sections can vary significantly from their infinite-dilution counterparts.