Validation of Nuclear Data Libraries for Reactor Safety and Design Calculations

Benchmark calculations are performed for a large number of critical experiments such as homogeneous uranium and plutonium nitrate solutions, UOX and MOX fuel lattices, and MTR fuel. For these calculations, various modern nuclear point data libraries were used, namely JEF-2.2, ENDF/B-VI, and JENDL-3.2, and the not yet released JEFF-3 data; the differences between the corresponding results are discussed. The influence of the unresolved resonance treatment possible within the latest MCNP version is investigated. For selected systems, deterministic and Monte Carlo calculations were performed with a new multigroup library with 292 energy groups, based on JEF-2.2, and the results are compared with MCNP calculations with point data.