Reexamination of cross-sections for fast neutrons by computational checking of single material integral experiments

Transmission experiments for fast neutrons and pure materials offer the possibility to check the accuracy of nuclear data compilations by recalculating the measured discharge spectra. In this paper the calculations were mainly based on two Benchmark experiments with pure iron carried out at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center. One of the experiments employed a 252Cf fission source and spherically symmetric arrangement; the other was based on transmission of an iron cylinder by 14-MeV neutrons from a D+T source. The checking calculations were based on the data compilation ENDF/B-IV (occasionally also ENDF/B-III) and on the transport codes ANISN (1D) and DOT-2 (2D) with lined up ESTOQ (for calculating the first-collision source). The calculations with the Cf source showed good agreement with the results of measurement, whereas the checking of the arrangement with 14 MeV neutrons yielded a marked underestimation of the neutron flux density in the range of 2 MeV up to 14 MeV. The discussion of the results including the choice of codes was done on the basis of a literature review on the Benchmark experiments for iron with fast neutrons carried out until now. (orig.)