Deterministic calculation of the effective delayed neutron fraction without using the adjoint neutron flux - 299

In 1997, Bretscher calculated the effective delayed neutron fraction by the k-ratio method. The Bretscher's approach is based on calculating the multiplication factor of a nuclear reactor core with and without the contribution of delayed neutrons. The multiplication factor set by the delayed neutrons (the delayed multiplication factor) is obtained as the difference between the total and the prompt multiplication factors. Bretscher evaluated the effective delayed neutron fraction as the ratio between the delayed and total multiplication factors (therefore the method is often referred to as k-ratio method). In the present work, the k-ratio method is applied by deterministic nuclear codes. The ENDF/B nuclear data library of the fuel isotopes (238U and 238U) have been processed by the NJOY code with and without the delayed neutron data to prepare multigroup WIMSD nuclear data libraries for the DRAGON code. The DRAGON code has been used for preparing the PARTISN macroscopic cross sections. This calculation methodology has been applied to the YALINA-Thermal assembly of Belarus. The assembly has been modeled and analyzed using PARTISN code with 69 energy groups and 60 different material zones. The deterministic and Monte Carlo results for the effective delayed neutron fraction obtained by the k-ratio method agree very well. The results also agree with the values obtained by using the adjoint flux. (authors)