Papers by Giuseppe Palmiotti
Nuclear Data Sheets, 2014
The principle of the proposed experiment is to irradiate very pure actinide samples in the Advanc... more The principle of the proposed experiment is to irradiate very pure actinide samples in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at INL and, after a given time, determine the amount of the different transmutation products. The determination of the nuclide densities before and after neutron irradiation will allow inference of effective neutron capture cross-sections. This approach has been used in the
Nuclear Data Sheets, 2014
The Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC) of the OECD NEA Nuc... more The Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC) of the OECD NEA Nuclear Science Committee established in 2009 a Subgroup (called "Subgroup 33") on "Methods and issues for the combined use of integral experiments and covariance data." The first stage has been devoted to producing the description of different adjustment methodologies and assessing their merits. A detailed document related to this first stage has been issued. Nine leading organizations (often with a long and recognized expertise in the field) have contributed: ANL, CEA, INL, IPPE, JAEA, JSI, NRG, IRSN and ORNL. In the second stage a practical benchmark exercise was defined in order to test the reliability of the nuclear data adjustment methodology. Comparison of the results obtained by the participants and major lessons learned in the exercise are discussed in the present paper that summarizes individual contributions which often include several original developments not reported separately.
Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2014
Nuclear Data Sheets, 2008
A new algorithm for a rigorous collapsing of covariance data is proposed, derived, implemented, a... more A new algorithm for a rigorous collapsing of covariance data is proposed, derived, implemented, and tested. The method is based on a conservation principle that allows preserving at a broad energy group structure the uncertainty calculated in a fine group energy structure for a specific integral parameter, using as weights the associated sensitivity coefficients. R ∆ = + J , RC RC J J , RC J , kP k J J , kP J , k k J J , k J , kP kP J J , kP J , k k J J , k S D S S D S S D S S D S i.e., the following approximation is made: kP J k J + J , k k J J , k
Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations, 2012
Nuclear Data Sheets, 2014
ABSTRACT The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) organizes cooperation between the major nuclear dat... more ABSTRACT The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) organizes cooperation between the major nuclear data evaluation projects in the world. The NEA Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC) was established to promote the exchange of information on nuclear data evaluation, measurement, nuclear model calculation, validation, and related topics, and to provide a framework for cooperative activities between the participating projects. The working party assesses nuclear data improvement needs and addresses these needs by initiating joint activities in the framework of dedicated WPEC subgroups. Studies recently completed comprise a number of works related to nuclear data covariance and associated processing issues, as well as more specific studies related to the resonance parameter representation in the unresolved resonance region, the gamma production from fission product capture reactions, the 235U capture cross section, the EXFOR database, and the improvement of nuclear data for advanced reactor systems. Ongoing activities focus on the evaluation of 239Pu in the resonance region, scattering angular distribution in the fast energy range, and reporting/usage of experimental data for evaluation in the resolved resonance region. New activities include two subgroups on improved fission product yield evaluation methodologies and on modern nuclear database structures. Future activities under discussion include a pilot project for a Collaborative International Evaluated Library Organization (CIELO) and methods to provide feedback from nuclear and covariance data adjustment for improvement of nuclear data. In addition to the above mentioned short-term task-oriented subgroups, WPEC also hosts a longer-term subgroup charged with reviewing and compiling the most important nuclear data requirements in a high priority request list (HPRL).
Nuclear Data Sheets, 2014
ABSTRACT In the frame of a US-DOE sponsored project, ANL, BNL, INL and LANL have performed a join... more ABSTRACT In the frame of a US-DOE sponsored project, ANL, BNL, INL and LANL have performed a joint multidisciplinary research activity in order to explore the combined use of integral experiments and covariance data with the objective to both give quantitative indications on possible improvements of the ENDF evaluated data files and to reduce at the same time crucial reactor design parameter uncertainties. Methods that have been developed in the last four decades for the purposes indicated above have been improved by some new developments that benefited also by continuous exchanges with international groups working in similar areas. The major new developments that allowed significant progress are to be found in several specific domains: a) new science-based covariance data; b) integral experiment covariance data assessment and improved experiment analysis, e.g., of sample irradiation experiments; c) sensitivity analysis, where several improvements were necessary despite the generally good understanding of these techniques, e.g., to account for fission spectrum sensitivity; d) a critical approach to the analysis of statistical adjustments performance, both a priori and a posteriori; e) generalization of the assimilation method, now applied for the first time not only to multigroup cross sections data but also to nuclear model parameters (the "consistent" method). This article describes the major results obtained in each of these areas; a large scale nuclear data adjustment, based on the use of approximately one hundred high-accuracy integral experiments, will be reported along with a significant example of the application of the new "consistent" method of data assimilation.
This report deals with the validation of an ADS dynamic behaviour through the TRADE program. We f... more This report deals with the validation of an ADS dynamic behaviour through the TRADE program. We first describe the motivations behind the TRADE project. This includes the types of ADS experiments to be performed and their necessity, beam trips issues, representativity of the experiment, and steps to be taken in the validation procedure. Then we perform the characterization of the TRADE core using deterministic methods. The general core description is given. A number of results related to the core criticality and modeling with different geometries are presented. Finally we report the experimental results of the recent critical measurements including the control rod calibration, determination of the critical configurations and fluxes in the core.
Journal of the Korean Physical Society, 2011
The principle of the proposed experiment is to irradiate very pure actinide samples in the Advanc... more The principle of the proposed experiment is to irradiate very pure actinide samples in the Advanced Test Reactor at INL and, after a given time, determine the amount of the different transmutation products. The determination of the nuclide densities before and after neutron irradiation will allow inference of effective neutron capture cross-sections. This approach has been used in the past and the novelty of this experiment is that the atom densities of the different transmutation products will be determined using the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry technique at the ATLAS facility located at ANL. It is currently planned to irradiate the following isotopes
The variational nodal method is formulated such that the angular and spatial approximations maybe... more The variational nodal method is formulated such that the angular and spatial approximations maybe examined separately. Spherical harmonic, simplified spherical harmonic, and discrete ordinate approximations are coupled to the primal hybrid finite element treatment of the spatial variables. Within this framework, two classes of spatial trial functions are presented: (1) orthogonal polynomials for the treatment of homogeneous nodes and (2) bilinear finite subelement trial functions for the treatment of fuel assembly sized nodes in which fuel-pin cell cross sections are represented explicitly. Polynomial and subelement trial functions are applied to benchmark water-reactor problems containing MOX fuel using spherical harmonic and simplified spherical harmonic approximations. The resulting accuracy and computing costs are compared.
Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2003
The variational nodal method is generalized by dividing each spatial node into a number oftriangu... more The variational nodal method is generalized by dividing each spatial node into a number oftriangular finite elements designated as subelements. The finite subelement trial functions allow for explicit geometry representations within each node, thus eliminating the need for nodal homogenization. The method is implemented within the Argonne National Laboratory code VARIANT and applied to two-dimensional multigroup problems. Eigenvalue and pin-power results are presented for a four-assembly DECD/NEA benchmark problem containing enriched UO2 and MOX fuel pins. Our seven-group model combines spherical or simplified spherical harmonic approximations in angle with isoparametric linear or quadratic subelement basis functions, thus eliminating the need for fuel-coolant homogenization. Comparisons with reference seven-group Monte Carlo solutions indicate that in the absence of pin-cell homogenization, high-order angular approximations are required to obtain accurate eigenvalues, while the results are substantially less sensitive to the refinement of the finite subelement grids.
The Red-Black algorithm has been successfully applied on solving the second-order parity transpor... more The Red-Black algorithm has been successfully applied on solving the second-order parity transport equation with the PN approximation in angle and the Hybrid Finite Element Method (HFEM) in space, i.e., the Variational Nodal Method (VNM) [1,2,3,4,5]. Any transport solving techniques, including the Red-Black algorithm, need to be parallelized in order to take the advantage of the development of supercomputers with
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Papers by Giuseppe Palmiotti