Benchmark experiment on copper with D-T neutrons for verification of neutron transport and related nuclear data of JENDL-3.1

Abstract A clean benchmark experiment on copper was performed with D-T neutrons at the Fusion Neutronics Source facility of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. A pure copper slab 629 mm in diameter and 608 mm in depth was set at 200 mm from the D-T neutron source. Neutron spectra above a few keV and activation reaction rates such as 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb, 115In(n,n′)115mIn and 197Au(n,γ)198Au were measured at the front surface of the copper slab and inside the copper slab (depths of 76, 228, 380 and 532 mm) using a spherical NE213 scintillation detector (diameter 14 mm), two small proton recoil gas proportional counters and activation foils. The experimental analyses were performed using the two-dimensional transport code dot3.5 and the continuous energy Monte Carlo code mcnp-4 with the cross-section sets based on the jendl-3.1 nuclear data library. The present benchmark experiment suggests that there are still problems in the nuclear data of copper in jendl-3.1 and the self-shielding correction of the group constants for the dot3.5 calculation.