Database for nuclear data sensitivity of burnup composition in light water reactors

Oizumi, Akito   ; Jin, Tomoyuki*; Yokoyama, Kenji   ; Ishikawa, Makoto; Kugo, Teruhiko 

In design work for nuclear fuel cycle plants, decommissioning facilities and light water reactors (LWRs), it has been feasible to quantitatively evaluate the uncertainty of fuel burnup characteristics with identifying error sources arising from the analytical modeling or the related physical property such as nuclear data. Owing to the recent improvement of sensitivity analysis method and enhancement of computer capability, this new evaluation technology would be a promising strategy against the current demand for quality assurance, verification & validation (V&V) and accountability. The present report summarizes nuclear-data sensitivity of atomic number densities after burnup for the LWR fuels of UO and MOX in PWR and BWR. The analysis method is based on the generalized perturbation theory with JENDL-4.0 and a multi-purpose reactor analysis code MARBLE. The present study focuses on 35 fission products and 18 actinides. Sensitivities are calculated with respect to multigroup cross sections, half-lives and fission yields. Electronic files of the sensitivities are stored in a compact disk as a database. Important trends of the sensitivities are presented and their physical mechanisms are discussed. By incorporating the sensitivities with nuclear data covariance and post irradiation examination data, it would be possible to meet the demand for V&V and to break down the uncertainty due to nuclear data into dominant error sources. Thus, the sensitivities can be used to suggest the needs for nuclear data measurements and to extract those for reactor physics experiments in order to make the strategic deliberation of design rationalization.