Validation of New Neutron Production Cross Sections for Tungsten Isotopes

Abstract

New neutron production cross sections of tungsten isotopes such as ¹⁸²W, ¹⁸³W, ¹⁸⁴W, and ¹⁸⁶W have been validated through shielding benchmarks and criticality safety benchmarks with the MCNPX-2.5.0 code. The calculation results based on the new evaluations have been compared with those based on ENDF/B-VII.0, JEFF-3.1, JENDL-3.3, and FENDL-2.1 as well as the benchmark experiments. In this paper, some noticeable improvements in calculations of the neutron leakage spectra from tungsten shields and the k_eff’s for critical assemblies with tungsten are presented.