Gas-cooled fast breeder reactor shielding benchmark calculation

This report summarizes the results of a shielding benchmark calculation performed by General Atomic (GA) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The problem analyzed was a neutron-coupled gamma ray transport calculation of the core blanket shield of the 300-MW(e) gas-cooled fast breeder reactor (GCFR). Comparison of the initial GA and ORNL results indicated good agreement for fast fluxes (E greater than 0.9 MeV and E greater than 0.086 MeV) but poor agreement for epithermal and thermal neutron fluxes. Examination of the results revealed that a deficiency in the GA fine-group cross section preparation code was responsible for the differences in the GA and ORNL iron cross sections. Modification of the GA cross sections to include self-shielding was accomplished, and the updated GA benchmark calculation performed with the self-shielded iron cross sections was in excellent agreement with the ORNL results for fast neutron fluxes with E greater than 0.9 MeV and E greater than 0.086 MeV and in good agreement for epithermal and thermal fluxes. The agreement of the gamma heating rates also improved significantly. Thus, it was concluded that the good agreement of the GA and ORNL neutron-coupled gamma ray transport calculation indicates that (1) the methods and cross sections used by both laboratories were compatible and consistent and (2) the use of 24 neutron energy groups and 15 gamma energy groups by GA was adequate compared with the use of 51 neutron energy groups and 25 gamma energy groups by ORNL