The SCALE KENO V.a Criticality Course focuses on KENO V.a and the associated criticality analysis sequences in CSAS. KENO V.a is a widely used 3-D multigroup Monte Carlo criticality safety code that has been in use for 20 years. KENO V.a is a fast, easy-to-use code that allows users to build complex geometry models using basic geometrical bodies of cuboids, spheres, cylinders, hemispheres, and hemicylinders. Two-dimensional color plots of the geometry model can be generated in KENO V.a or the model may be viewed using the KENO3D 3-D visualization tool. Click here for course agenda.

SCALE KENO-VI Course

KENO-VI is the latest version of the KENO Monte Carlo criticality safety code developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It constructs and processes geometry data as sets of quadratic equations. A lengthy set of simple, easy-to-use geometric functions, similar to those provided in KENO-V.a, and the ability to build more complex geometric shapes (represented by sets of quadratic equations) are the heart of the geometry package in KENO-VI. The code's flexibility is increased by allowing the following features: intersecting geometry regions; hexagonal as well as cuboidal arrays; regions, HOLEs, arrays, and units rotated to any angle and truncated to any position; and the use of an array boundary that intersects the array. KENO-VI maintains all the flexibility and options of KENO-V.a plus a variety of new options. In KENO-VI, units can be constructed using both the simple geometric shapes provided and the tailored geometric shapes constructed using quadratic equations. It includes the new 2-D color plotting capability that has been added to KENO-V.a. Users should be aware that the added geometry features in KENO-VI can result in significantly longer run times than KENO-V.a. A KENO-VI problem that can also be modeled with KENO-V.a will typically run 4 times as long as the same problem using KENO-V.a. Thus the new version VI is not a replacement for the existing version V.a, but an additional version for complex geometries that could not be modeled previously. Click here for 5-day course agenda.

SCALE MAVRIC/Monaco Radiation Shielding Course

This 1 1/2 day course (taught in conjunction with KENO-VI) discusses and demonstrates the new shielding tools in SCALE 6.  The MAVRIC (Monaco with Automated Variance Reduction using Importance Calculations) sequence provides 3-D automated variance reduction for deep-penetration problems.  The basic functional module is Monaco – a fixed-source, 3-D, general geometry, multi-group, Monte Carlo code.   Monaco uses the SCALE Standard Composition Library and the SCALE Generalized Geometry Package (SGGP), which is the same geometry used by the KENO-VI criticality safety code. 

MAVRIC sequence is based on the CADIS (Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling) methodology.  For a given tally in a Monte Carlo calculation that the users wants to optimize, the CADIS method uses the result of an adjoint calculation from a 3-D deterministic code to create both an importance map for weight windows and a biased source distribution.  MAVRIC is completely automated — from a single user input, it creates the cross sections (forward and adjoint), calculates the first collision source for the discrete ordinates, computes the adjoint fluxes, creates the importance map and biased source, and then executes Monaco.  An extension to the CADIS method using both a forward and an adjoint discrete ordinates calculations is included in MAVRIC so that multiple point tallies or mesh tallies over large areas can be optimized (calculated with roughly the same relative uncertainty).

In this course, participants will run several MAVRIC exercise problems that demonstrate: a standard Monte Carlo calculation without variance reduction; a shielding problem using CADIS to optimize a single tally; and a mesh tally calculation of dose rates over a large volume, with nearly uniform relative uncertainty. Click here for combined KENO-VI/MAVRIC course agenda.

SCALE ORIGEN-ARP

This is a one-day hands-on class that covers the use of ORIGEN-ARP for depletion, decay, decay heat, and radiation source-terms calculations. The course features the use of the SCALE Windows GUIs: OrigenArp for Windows and the ORIGEN-S plotting utility PlotOPUS. The course is usually offered in conjunction with the SCALE TRITON training course. Click here for course agenda.

SCALE STARBUCS Burnup Credit Course

The new STARBUCS automated calculation sequence in SCALE integrates fuel depletion analysis using ORIGEN-ARP with a 3-D KENO (version V.a or VI) Monte Carlo criticality calculation. Spent fuel compositions are calculated for each spatial region. STARBUCS includes options for the treatment of isotopic uncertainties (applying bias and/or uncertainty correction factors) and for axial and horizontal burnup profiles. Attendees must have attended a KENO course or be experienced KENO users. Click here for course agenda.

SCALE TRITON - Multidimensional Transport and Depletion Course

The TRITON sequence in SCALE combines deterministic and Monte Carlo capabilities into a multipurpose transport analysis tool. TRITON can be used to perform cross-section processing for a two-dimensional NEWT transport calculation. NEWT is an arbitrary-geometry, discrete ordinates transport solver that can be used for eigenvalue calculation, critical buckling searches, forward and adjoint flux solutions, cross-section weighting, collapse, and homogenization, and can be used to generate few-group constants for lattice physics calculations. Coupled with ORIGEN-S via TRITON, NEWT is most often used in 2-D depletion calculations. Such calculations can be used to calculate isotopic concentrations as a function of burnup, decay heat, neutron and gamma, source terms, radiotoxicity and dose estimates. Used in lattice physics calculations, TRITON can be used to perform transport branch calculations at each depletion step, and to save lattice physics cross sections and other physics parameters for use in subsequent analysis. NEWT's arbitrary-geometry capability lends it to a wide variety of lattice analyses, including but not limited to PWR, BWR with control blades, VVER, and CANDU and ACR-700 designs. Experienced KENO-VI users will find that NEWT geometry input is based on that of KENO-VI, and exchanging (2-D)
models between the two codes is trivial. However, for some inherently three-dimensional configurations, the 2-D solution of NEWT is inadequate; in such cases, the alternative is to use TRITON with KENO V.a or KENO-VI as the transport solver, to accommodate 3-D depletion.

This course will teach attendees how to use NEWT for transport calculations, and the use of TRITON for depletion calculations. The course will also instruct users on the use of KENO in place of NEWT for Monte Carlo-based depletion; however, attendees must be familiar with KENO input, as this is not covered within this course. Click here for course agenda.

SCALE TSUNAMI Sensitivity/Uncertainty for Criticality Safety Course

Sensitivity coefficients produced by the TSUNAMI sequences predict the relative changes in a system’s calculated k-eff value due to changes in the neutron cross-section data. TSUNAMI produces sensitivity data on a groupwise basis for each region defined in the system model. First-order perturbation theory is used to compute sensitivity coefficients from both cross-section and flux data. TSUNAMI folds the sensitivity data with cross-section covariance data to calculate the uncertainty in the calculated k-eff value due to tabulated uncertainties in the cross-section data. The applicability of benchmark experiments to the criticality validation of a given application can be assessed using S/U-based integral indices that can quantify system similarity. Attendees must have attended a KENO course or be experienced KENO users. Click here for course agenda.

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