Chapter 20
Sensitivity Analyses of Initial Compositions
and Cross Sections for Activation Products
of In-Core Structure Materials
Kento Yamamoto, Keisuke Okumura, Kensuke Kojima,
and Tsutomu Okamoto
Abstract Sensitivity analyses of initial compositions and cross sections were
conducted to quantitatively clarify the source elements and the nuclear reactions
dominating the generation of activation products. In these analyses, the ORIGEN2.2 code was used with ORLIBJ40, a set of the cross-section libraries based
on JENDL-4.0. Analyses were conducted for the activations of cladding tubes, end
plugs, and spacers of fuel assemblies and channel boxes in BWR that are composed
of zirconium alloy, stainless steel, and nickel-chromium-based alloy. From about
50 representative radioactive nuclides, several nuclides were selected as the targets
of sensitivity analyses for the aspect of their large concentrations in the target
materials.
The results of sensitivity coefficients clarified the source elements and the
nuclear reactions dominating the generation of activation products even for the
nuclides generated through complicated pathways. These results could be utilized
to select the objectives of the impurity elements for measurements and of nuclear
data for the improvement of accuracy. These results will contribute to improvements in the accuracy of numerical evaluations of activation product
concentrations.
Keywords Activation products • Burn-up calculation • INCONEL alloy • ORIGEN2.2 • ORLIBJ40 • Sensitivity study • Stainless steel • Zircaloy
20.1 Introduction
In the research on the back-end of nuclear cycles, improvement of the accuracy of
predicting concentrations of activation products is important for various evaluations. Providing the accurate initial compositions and nuclear data leading to the
generation of activation products is necessary for accurate predictions of
K. Yamamoto (*) • K. Okumura • K. Kojima • T. Okamoto
Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki, Japan
e-mail: yamamoto.kento@jaea.go.jp
© The Author(s) 2015
K. Nakajima (ed.), Nuclear Back-end and Transmutation Technology for Waste
Disposal, DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-55111-9_20
233
Sensitivity Analyses of Initial Compositions
and Cross Sections for Activation Products
of In-Core Structure Materials
Kento Yamamoto, Keisuke Okumura, Kensuke Kojima,
and Tsutomu Okamoto
Abstract Sensitivity analyses of initial compositions and cross sections were
conducted to quantitatively clarify the source elements and the nuclear reactions
dominating the generation of activation products. In these analyses, the ORIGEN2.2 code was used with ORLIBJ40, a set of the cross-section libraries based
on JENDL-4.0. Analyses were conducted for the activations of cladding tubes, end
plugs, and spacers of fuel assemblies and channel boxes in BWR that are composed
of zirconium alloy, stainless steel, and nickel-chromium-based alloy. From about
50 representative radioactive nuclides, several nuclides were selected as the targets
of sensitivity analyses for the aspect of their large concentrations in the target
materials.
The results of sensitivity coefficients clarified the source elements and the
nuclear reactions dominating the generation of activation products even for the
nuclides generated through complicated pathways. These results could be utilized
to select the objectives of the impurity elements for measurements and of nuclear
data for the improvement of accuracy. These results will contribute to improvements in the accuracy of numerical evaluations of activation product
concentrations.
Keywords Activation products • Burn-up calculation • INCONEL alloy • ORIGEN2.2 • ORLIBJ40 • Sensitivity study • Stainless steel • Zircaloy
20.1 Introduction
In the research on the back-end of nuclear cycles, improvement of the accuracy of
predicting concentrations of activation products is important for various evaluations. Providing the accurate initial compositions and nuclear data leading to the
generation of activation products is necessary for accurate predictions of
K. Yamamoto (*) • K. Okumura • K. Kojima • T. Okamoto
Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki, Japan
e-mail: yamamoto.kento@jaea.go.jp
© The Author(s) 2015
K. Nakajima (ed.), Nuclear Back-end and Transmutation Technology for Waste
Disposal, DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-55111-9_20
233