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ABSTRACT
The present paper aims to provide the benchmark specifications of the light-water critical experiments for the validation of the thermal scattering law (TSL) of water. The experiments are the two series of critical water measurements of the UO2 fuel lattice cores containing water holes (water-hole cores) and those containing water gaps (water-gap cores) performed in the TCA critical facility. The three-dimensional geometrical models of the facility, the critical core configurations, and the material compositions were specified for the water-hole and water-gap cores. Supplementing the previous core analysis of the water-hole cores, the analysis of the water-gap cores was performed with the continuous-energy Monte Carlo calculations code MVP3 and the JENDL-4.0 base neutron library. As observed with the water-hole cores, the effective neutron multiplication factors (keff) systematically decreased with the width of the water gap and the critical water level. The modification of the one-group microscopic total cross-section was surveyed to remove the decreasing trends and the obtained modifications were − 1.8% for the water-gap cores with the moderator-to-fuel volume ratio (Vm/Vf) of 1.50 and − 0.8% for those with the Vm/Vf of 3.0.
Graphical abstract
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Dr. Kenich Tada of JAEA Nuclear Science and Engineering Center for his contribution to the MVP3 calculations of the water-hole cores with the JENDL-4.0, ENDF/B-VII.1, ENDF/B-VIII.0, and JENDL-5 (RC1 beta version) libraries.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.