VALIDATION OF SERPENT FOR FUSION NEUTRONICS ANALYSIS AT JET

Abstract

Fusion neutronics analysis before and after experiments at JET is traditionally performed using Monte Carlo particle transport code Monte Carlo N-Particle. For redundancy and diversity reasons there is a need of an additional Monte Carlo code, such as Serpent 2, capable of fusion neutronics analysis. In order to validate the Serpent code for fusion applications a detailed model of JET was used. Neutron fluxes and reaction rates were calculated and compared for positions outside the tokamak vacuum vessel, in the vacuum vessel above the plasma and next to a limiter inside the vacuum vessel. For all detector positions with DD and DT neutron sources the difference between neutron fluxes calculated with both Monte Carlo codes were within 2σ statistical uncertainty and for most positions (more than 90 % of all studied positions) even within 1σ uncertainty. Fusion neutronics analysis in the JET tokamak with Serpent took on average 10 % longer but this can be improved by changing the threshold value for determination of the transport method used. With the work presented in this paper the Serpent Monte Carlo code was validated to be a viable alternative to MCNP for fusion neutronics analysis for the JET tokamak.

Keywords

• neutron transport
• mcnp
• serpent
• jet