ON THE VALIDATION OF VESTA 2.2.0 USING THE ARIANE-GU3 SAMPLE

Abstract

The validation of the VESTA 2.2.0 Monte Carlo depletion code has been initiated using the Spent Fuel Isotopic Composition Database (SFCOMPO). The work presented in this paper is limited to one fuel sample, the GU3 PWR-UOX sample from the ARIANE program, which has a reported burn up of 52.5 MWd.kgHM-1. The chemical analyses of the studied fuel sample were performed by 2 independent laboratories at the end of irradiation and cooling time. US and European evaluated nuclear data libraries, namely ENDF/B-VII.1 and JEFF-3.2, but also the more recent ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.3 are used for the VESTA 2.2.0 calculations. The isotopic concentration results are compared to experimental data and the C/E agreement is analyzed in the light of the previous VESTA 2.1.5 validation results obtained using ENDF/B-VII.0 and JEFF-3.1 nuclear data libraries.