INVESTIGATION OF APPROPRIATE LADDER NUMBER ON PROBABILITY TABLE GENERATION

Japan Atomic Energy Agency Shirakata 2-4, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki pref., 319-1195 Japan

tada.kenichi@jaea.go.jp

Published online: 22 February 2021

Abstract

The probability table method is widely used for continuous energy Monte Carlo calculation codes to treat the self-shielding effect in the unresolved resonance region. The ladder method is used to calculate the probability table. This method generates pseudo resonance structures using random numbers based on the averaged resonance parameters. The probability table affects the ladder number, i.e., the number of pseudo resonance structures. Since the higher the ladder number the longer it takes to create a cross-section library, reducing the value of the ladder number is an effective way to reduce the time spent in the creation of a cross-section library. However, the exact value of the most appropriate ladder number to use has not been found. Currently, users have to use a nuclear data processing system to manually set the ladder number to a large enough value in order to obtain a sufficiently converged probability table. In this study, the probability tables for all nuclides prepared in JENDL-4.0 are used to find the optimal ladder number. The results show that the probability table differences are small enough when the ladder number is 100. The impact of these differences on neutronics calculations is found to be small.