Thick target benchmark test for the code used in the design of high intensity proton accelerator project

In the neutronics design for the JAERI and KEK Joint high intensity accelerator facilities, transport codes of NMTC/JAM, MCNPX and MARS are used. In order to confirm the predict ability for these code, it is important to compare with the experiment result. For the validation of the source term of neutron, the calculations are compared with the experimental spectrum of neutrons produced from thick target, which are carried out at LANL and KEK. As for validation of low energy incident case, the calculations are compared with experiment carried out at LANL, in which target of C, Al, Fe, and 238U are irradiated with 256-MeV protons. By the comparison, it is found that both NMTC/JAM and MCNPX show good agreement with the experiment within by a factor of 2. MARS shows good agreement for C and Al target. MARS, however, gives rather underestimation for all targets in the neutron energy region higher than 30 MeV. For the validation high incident energy case, the codes are compared with the experiment carried out at KEK. In this experiment, W and Pb targets are bombarded with 0.5- and 1.5-GeV protons. Although slightly disagreement exists, NMTC/JAM, MCNPX and MARS are in good agreement with the experiment within by a factor of 2. (author)