For a better estimation of gamma heating in nuclear material-testing reactors and associated devices: status and work plan from calculation methods to nuclear data

Abstract

The determination of gamma heating levels in material-testing reactors (MTRs) is of crucial importance as gamma heating affects both safety and performance parameters of MTRs [1,2]. The required accuracy (5% at one standard deviation) makes it necessary to calibrate bias and uncertainty associated with MTR gamma-heating calculations. Main steps of bias determination for gamma-heating calculations include, first, the development of a calculation methodology with the controlled use of physical approximations; second, the interpretation of gamma-heating measurements with reference calculations so as to determine bias supposed to be mainly due to nuclear data.