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Register a new userSimulation of the SONGS Reactor Antineutrino Flux Using DRAGON
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Authors
C. L. Jones
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For reactor antineutrino experiments, a thorough understanding of the fuel composition and isotopic evolution is of paramount importance for the extraction of $theta_{13}$. To accomplish these goals, we employ the deterministic lattice code DRAGON, and analyze the instantaneous antineutrino rate from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Unit 2 reactor in California. DRAGONs ability to predict the rate for two consecutive fuel cycles is examined.
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Rising interest in nuclear reactors as a source of antineutrinos for experiments motivates validated, fast, and accessible simulations to predict reactor fission rates. Here we present results from the DRAGON and MURE simulation codes and compare them to other industry standards for reactor core modeling. We use published data from the Takahama-3 reactor to evaluate the quality of these simulations against the independently measured fuel isotopic composition. The propagation of the uncertainty in the reactor operating parameters to the resulting antineutrino flux predictions is also discussed.
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