Benchmarking and parallel scalability of M

MANCINTAP is a parallel computational tool developed by Ansaldo Nucleare to perform 4D neutron transport, activation and time-resolved dose-rate calculations in very complex geometries for CPU-intensive fission and fusion applications. MANCINTAP creates an automated link between the 3D radiation transport code MCNP5—which is used to evaluate both the neutron fluxes for activation calculations and the resulting secondary gamma dose rates—and the zero-dimensional activation code Anita2000 by handling crucial processes such as data exchange, determination of material mixtures and generation of cumulative probability distributions. A brief description of the computational tool is given here, with particular emphasis on the key technical choices underlying the project. Benchmarking of MANCINTAP has been performed in three steps: (i) against a very simplified model, where an analytical solution is available for comparison; (ii) against the well-established deterministic transport and activation code ATTILA and (iii) against experimental data obtained at the Frascati Neutron Generator (FNG) facility. An analysis of MANCINTAP scalability performances is proposed to demonstrate the robustness of its parallel structure, tailored for HPC applications, which makes it—to the best of our knowledge—a novel tool

Study of an intrinsically safe infrastructure for training and research on nuclear technologies

Within European Partitioning & Transmutation research programs, infrastructures specifically dedicated to the study of fundamental reactor physics and engineering parameters of future fast-neutron-based reactors are very important, being some of these features not available in present zero-power prototypes. This presentation will illustrate the conceptual design of an ADS with high safety standards, but ample flexibility for measurements. The design assumes as base option a 70 MeV, 0.75 mA proton cyclotron, as the one which will be installed at the INFN National Laboratory in Legnaro, Italy and a Beryllium target, with Helium gas as core coolant. Safety is guaranteed by limiting the thermal power to 200 kW, with a neutron multiplication coefficient around 0.94, loading the core with fuel containing Uranium enriched at 20% inserted in a solid-lead diffuser. The small decay heat can be passively removed by thermal radiation from the vessel. Such a system could be used to study, among others, some specific aspects of neutron diffusion in lead, beam-core coupling, target cooling and could serve as a training facility

Study of a low-power, fast-neutron-based ADS

Within European Partitioning & Transmutation research programs, infrastructures specifically dedicated to the study of fundamental reactor physics and engineering parameters of future fast-neutron-based reactors are very important, being some of these features not available in present zero-power prototypes. This presentation will illustrate the conceptual design of an ADS with high safety standards, but ample flexibility for measurements. The design assumes as base option the 70 MeV, 0.75 mA proton cyclotron facility planned to be constructed at the INFN National Laboratory in Legnaro, Italy and a Beryllium target, with Helium gas as core coolant. Safety is guaranteed by limiting the thermal power to 200 kW, with a neutron multiplication coefficient around 0.95, loading the core with fuel containing Uranium enriched at 20% and a solid-lead diffuser. The small decay heat can be passively removed by thermal radiation from the vessel. Such a system could be used to study, among others, some specific aspects of neutron diffusion in lead, beam-core coupling, target cooling and could serve as a training facility