Decay Data Uncertainty Propagation in Decay Heat Calculations: A Monte Carlo Approach
Résumé
A proper characterization of decay heat is essential for nuclear power safety at all stages of the
fuel cycle, including reactor operation, spent fuel handling, transportation, reprocessing, and
disposal. This work is based on a Monte Carlo approach to quantify the uncertainty propagation
of decay data on decay heat calculations using an in-house code named COCODRILO, which is
coupled with Serpent2. The calculations are performed for thermal fission pulses of 239 Pu and 235 U using ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF-VIII.0 nuclear decay data libraries. Results are also compared
with experimental values at different cooling times. The associated analysis shows the impact of
decay data uncertainties on decay heat. Moreover, the study underscores the discrepancies in
decay heat uncertainty calculation due to decay data without uncertainty information.