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Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis is an essential component of nuclear engineering calculations. Uncertainties in the cross-section input data directly affect uncertainties in the results. The covariance values between different types of cross-sections are considered in the NJOY covariance library. However, the correlation coefficient between isotopes can depend on the specific problem. The correlation coefficient between 235U and 238U in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) might be different from that in a fast reactor. In this study, a new Monte Carlo-based method is proposed for calculating this effect. The correlation coefficients between different isotopes are calculated using a problem-dependent fraction parameter. The correlation coefficients between the capture cross-sections of 235U, 238U, 239Pu, and 241Pu are calculated. The same method can be extended to other reaction types. The correlation coefficients as a function of the isotopic atomic density uncertainty and the average one-group microscopic cross-section uncertainty are also studied. It is shown that the correlation coefficients vary very little with the uncertainty in the average one-group microscopic cross-section. The correlation coefficient of an isotope pair changes slightly over the course of a cycle because of atomic density and microscopic cross-section changes.

Radiation damage to structural material of fusion facilities is of high concern for safety. The superconducting tokamak EAST will conduct D-D plasma experiments with the neutron production of 1015 neutrons per second. To evaluate the material radiation damage a programme system has been devised with the Monte Carlo transport code MCNP-4C, the inventory code FISPACT99, a specific interface, and the fusion evaluated nuclear data library FENDL-2. The key nuclear responses, i.e. fast neutron flux, displacement per atom, and the helium and hydrogen production, are calculated for the structural material SS-316L of the first wall, and the vacuum vessel, using this programme. The results demonstrate that the radiation damage to the structural material is so little that it will not lead to any significant change of material properties according to the reference design. This indicates that there is a large potential space for EAST to test advanced operation regime from the viewpoint of structural material safety.

Shortage of energy resources and production of long-lived radioactivity wastes from fission reactors are among the main problems which will be faced in the world in the near future. The conceptual design of a fusion driven subcritical system (FDS) is underway in Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. There are alternative designs for multi-functional blanket modules of the FDS, such as fuel breeding blanket module (FBB) to produce fuels for fission reactors, tritium breeding blanket module to produce the fuel, i.e. tritium, for fusion reactor and waste transmutation blanket module to try to permanently dispose of long-lived radioactivity wastes from fission reactors, etc. Activation of the fuel breeding blanket of the fusion driven subcritical system (FDS-FBB) by D-T fusion neutrons from the plasma and fission neutrons from the hybrid blanket are calculated and analysed under the neutron wall loading 0.5 MW/m2 and neutron fluence 15 MW.yr/m2. The neutron spectrum is calculated with the worldwide-used transport code MCNP/4C and activation calculations are carried out with the well known European inventory code FISPACT/99 with the latest released IAEA Fusion Evaluated Nuclear Data Library FENDL-2.0 and the ENDF/B-V uranium evaluated data. Induced radioactivities, dose rates and afterheats, etc, for different components of the FDS-FBB are compared and analysed.

Effect of various spatial and energy distributions of fusion neutron source on the calculation of neutron wall loading of Tokamak D-D fusion device has been investigated by means of the 3-D Monte Carlo code MCNP. A realistic Monte Carlo source model was developed based on the accurate representation of the spatial distribution and energy spectrum of fusion neutrons to solve the complicated problem of tokamak fusion neutron source modelling. The results show that those simplified source models will introduce significant uncertainties. For accurate estimation of the key nuclear responses of the tokamak design and analyses, the use of the realistic source is recommended. In addition, the accumulation of tritium produced during D-D plasma operation should be carefully considered.

Occupancy sites of uranium atom in goethite are studied by first principles calculations. It is found that the formation energies of substitution (S), octahedral (O), and tetrahedral (T) sites of uranium in goethite are -13.49, -3.86, and -1.60 eV, respectively. The formation energies of dual uranium in S and O sites in goethite are -27.392 and -16.214 eV, respectively, and corresponding binding energies are -0.417 and 1.131 eV, respectively. It is concluded that dual uranium atoms can aggregate together in S site formation in goethite, but not in O site formation.