June 2019 – CMS5 Maintenance Release

Studsvik Scandpower has released an update for its CMS5 software suite that includes the following versions:

1. CASMO5 v3.00.00                   (2D lattice physics transport code for PWR and BWR)
2. CASMO5 v3.00.00_VVER       (2D lattice physics transport code for VVER)
3. CMSLINK5 v1.13.00                 (Linking code between C5 and S5/S3)
4. SIMULATE v1.17.00                 (3D advanced nodal core simulator for PWR and BWR)
5. SIMULATE v1.17.00_VVER    (3D advanced nodal core simulator for VVER)

Highlights of new features and capabilities, and minor software corrections available in these new versions can found in the Changes and Release Notes documents on the Studsvik ZenDesk Help Center:  https://support.studsvikscandpower.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015110327-Latest-CMS-Code-Versions

This software has been qualified under the Studsvik, Inc. NQA-1 1994, 10 CFR 50 Appendix B, 10 CFR 21 Quality Assurance Program.  Current code versions for other Studsvik software include CASMO-4 v2.05.17, SIMULATE-3 v6.20.00, SIMULATE-3K v2.08.00, SNF v1.07.02, and HELIOS-2 v2.02.00.

If you would like to receive an update to your software under your current software maintenance agreement, please contact your Studsvik representative.

August 2019 – New CASMO5 ENDF/B-VIII.0 Library Now Available – A new, state-of-the-art, 586 group, CASMO5 neutron data library based on the recently released ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data evaluation supplemented with TENDL-2017 is now available from Studsvik.

The ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data evaluation was released by the Cross Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG) on February 2, 2018 and represents the state-of-the-art in nuclear data with the following highlights:

• New CIELO (Collaborative International Evaluated Library Organization) evaluations for ¹H, ¹⁶O, ⁵⁶Fe, ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U and ²³⁹Pu, including prompt fission spectra.
• New evaluated data for light nuclides such as ³He, ⁶Li, ¹⁰B, ¹²C and ¹³C.
• New evaluated data for structural materials such as ^54,56-58Fe, ^58-62,64Ni, ⁵⁹Co, ^63,65Cu, ^174-182Hf, and ^182-186W.
• Updated evaluated data for minor actinides such as ^236mNp, ²⁴⁰Pu, and ^241,243Am.
• Revised or reevaluated thermal scattering law for UO₂, light water, and graphite.
• New data for fission energy release and radioactive decay data.

All major nuclides present in current-generation LWR fuel, coolant, absorber and structural materials possess new evaluations in the ENDF/B-VIII.0 release. Consequently, this new evaluation may impact the prediction of core parameters such as criticality, temperature coefficients, cycle length, reflector savings, activation and spent fuel characterization. Although the delayed neutron data remains relatively unchanged from the previous release, reactor kinetics predictions may also be indirectly impacted by the new evaluation, primarily due to changes in the fuel temperature (Doppler) coefficient.

The new CASMO5 neutron data library has cross section data for 1095 nuclides/identifiers, which enables CASMO5 to have full-resolution depletion chains for 119 heavy nuclides, 491 fission product nuclides, and 269 burnable absorber nuclides. 

Studsvik will present its benchmarking activities with the new ENDF/B-VIII.0 library at the upcoming Users Group Meeting in Dresden, Germany, Oct. 8-11, 2019, and at the upcoming Physor-2020 at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

As the release of a new nuclear data evaluation affords the opportunity to use the best-available data to possibly reduce biases and improve predictions in LWR analysis, this library demonstrates Studsvik’s commitment to making available the latest nuclear data to its customers.