A Cumulative migration method for computing rigorous transport cross sections and diffusion coefficients for LWR lattices with Monte Carlo

A new method for computing homogenized assembly neutron transport cross sections and diffusion coefficients that is both rigorous and computationally efficient is proposed in this paper. In the limit of a homogeneous hydrogen slab, the new method is equivalent to the long-used, and only-recently-published CASMO transport method. The rigorous method is used to demonstrate the sources of inaccuracy in the commonly applied “out-scatter” transport correction. It is also demonstrated that the newly developed method is directly applicable to lattice calculations performed by Monte Carlo and is capable of computing rigorous homogenized transport cross sections for arbitrarily heterogeneous lattices. Comparisons of several common transport cross section approximations are presented for a simple problem of infinite medium hydrogen. The new method has also been applied in computing 2-group diffusion data for an actual PWR lattice from BEAVRS benchmark.Idaho National Laboratory (Contract DE-AC07-05ID14517