Reaction rate analyses for an accelerator-driven system with 14 MeV neutrons in the Kyoto University critical assembly

Neutron spectrum experiments on the Accelerator-Driven System (ADS) are conducted by combining a critical assembly of a solid-moderated and solid-reflected core with a Cockcroft-Walton-type accelerator. Neutrons (14 MeV) generated from the accelerator are injected into a subcritical system and the reaction rates are measured by the foil activation method to obtain neutronic spectrum data. The numerical calculations are executed by MCNP-4C3 with JENDL-3.3 and JENDL/D-99 libraries to evaluate the reaction rates of activation foils set in the core center and at the target. In the present study, the measured and calculated (JENDL/D-99) reaction rates in all the activation foils at the target reveal around a difference of 10% in C/E values, while a bigger discrepancy between the results of the experiments and the calculations is observed in the center of the core. On the other hand, a special mention is made of the fact that the reaction rate analyses for the neutron spectrum in the subcritical systems demonstrate apparently subcriticality dependence on the C/E values. Based on these results, further improvement is anticipated in the reaction rates obtained by both the experiments and the MCNP-4C3 calculations, as well as in the effects of subcriticality and the nuclear data on reaction rate evaluation. (author)