Criticality Analysis of Heterogeneous Light Water Reactor Configurations

The ENDF/B-V nuclear data are validated for use in light water reactor criticality calculations. This is done by using the continuous energy Monte Carlo code MCNP to simulate critical experiments with two distinct core configurations typical of those of boiling water reactors. By varying parameters such as temperature, burnable absorber content, and the amount of control poison, a set of 12 experiments is selected. Eigenvalue and local fission density results from the Monte Carlo simulations are found to be in good agreement with the measurements.