Skip to main content
Log in

Reduction of the Systematic Error of the Monte Carlo Method in MCU-Aided Calculations of Nuclear Reactors

  • Published:
Atomic Energy Aims and scope

A systematic error is present in reactor calculations performed with the aid of the MCU-code. This paper introduces an algorithm that in calculations by the series method makes it possible to determine the number of neutron generations in the NBAT series and the number of neutrons in the NTOT generation, which reduces the systematic error in the calculation of functionals and their variances. The described procedure includes determining the NBAT-dependence of the standard deviation, repeated calculations of the required functional to refi ne and correct NBAT, and calculations to refi ne NTOT. The algorithm is demonstrated on the example of calculating the effective multiplication factor and fission reaction rates for the VVER-1000 unit cell model with the fuel column divided into 10 layers along the height. It is shown that in order to significantly reduce the systematic error of the local rate of fission reactions it is necessary to play more than 1000 particles in each series and variances in more than 200 series in each neutron generation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. M. A. Kalugin, D. S. Oleinik, and E. A. Sukhino-Khomenko, “Evaluation of the systematic error of Monte Carlo calculations of the neutronics characteristics using multiprocessor computers,” At. Energiya, 111, No. 2, 63–67 (2011).

    Google Scholar 

  2. X. Wu and T. Kozlowski, “Coupling of system thermohydraulics and Monte Carlo code: convergence criteria and quantifi cation of correlation between statistical uncertainty and coupled error,” Ann. Nucl. Energy, 75, 377–387.

  3. Codes of the MCU Project [Electronic resource], http://mcuproject.ru/eacodes.html.

  4. N. I. Alekseev, E. A. Gomin, and S. V. Marin, “MCU-PTR program for precision calculations of pool- and tank-type research reactors. “At. Energiya, 109, No. 3, 123–129 (2010).

  5. L. V. Mayorov, “Monte Carlo estimates of bias in calculations of reactors and nuclear-fuel storage facilities,” At. Energiya, 99, No. 4, 243–256 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  6. F. Brown, “A review of Monte Carlo criticality calculations – convergence, bias, statistics,” in: Int. Conf. on Mathematics, Computational Methods and Reactor Physics (M&C 2009) (2009), Vol. 1, pp. 4–15.

  7. T. Ueki, “Batch estimation of statistical errors in the Monte Carlo calculation of local powers,” Ann. Nucl. Energy, 38, No. 11, 2462–2469 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. D. N. Skorokhodov and G. V. Tikhomirov, “The problem of estimating the accuracy of calculations of local tallies by means of the Monte Carlo method,” Phys. At. Nuclei, 75, No. 14, 1675–1678 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. M. I. Gurevich and D. A. Shkarovskii, MCU-Aided Monte Carlo Calculation of Neutron Transport: Textbook, NRNU MEPhI, Moscow (2012).

    Google Scholar 

  10. F. Brown, “On the use of Shannon entropy of the fission distribution for assessing convergence of Monte Carlo criticality calculations,” in: PHYSOR-2006 (2006), C081, pp. 1–6.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. S. Gerasimov.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bogdanovich, R.B., Gerasimov, A.S. & Tikhomirov, G.V. Reduction of the Systematic Error of the Monte Carlo Method in MCU-Aided Calculations of Nuclear Reactors. At Energy 132, 331–336 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-023-00955-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-023-00955-y

Navigation