MCNP GEOMETRY PLOTTING IN CORE NEUTRONICS

A Practical Exercise
1
Zafar-ullah Koreshi
November 2019

For a MCNP simulation, consider a reactor core and reflector as shown in Figure 1a (from top) and
Figure 1b from side; red being the fuel rods, blue the heat pipes, yellow the matrix, green the reflector
and the dark strips in the six surrounding control drums representing the absorber material.

In this exercise, we want to model the absorber regions to consider the effect when they face the core
and conversely when they face away from the core.

(a) (b)

Figure 1. (a) top view , (b) side view.

This exercise is thus to model the control drums with the absorbers spanning an angle 45o to face the
core or to be on the “opposite” side.

The first step is to get the equations of the planes for the absorber regions. These are shown below;
equations are 𝑚𝑥 − 𝑦 + 𝑐 = 0 in the MCNP format Ax+By+Cz-D=0. The drums are labelled P to U with
centers at (x,y). The angles 𝜑 are relative to the horizontal axis, and the slope m and intercept c are
calculated for each plane. The surface numbers are given in the “right-most column” below.

1
Contact email zafarkoreshi@yahoo.com zafar@mail.au.edu.pk personal website www.nucleareng.com
 𝑥 𝑦 𝜑 𝑚 𝑐 surface
Top 30 − 𝜃 0.131652497587396 10.881235923901318 40
P a b
Right 30 + 𝜃 1.303225372841206 -17.721544252545193 41
90 − 𝜃 2.414213562373095 28.190799999999999 48
Q Top 0 28.1908
90 + 𝜃 -2.414213562373095 28.190799999999999 49
Top - 150 − 𝜃 -1.303225372841206 -17.721544252545193 45
R b
Left a 150 + 𝜃 -0.131652497587396 10.881235923901318 44
Bottom - 30 + 𝜃 1.303225372841206 17.721544252545193 47
S -b
Left a 30 − 𝜃 0.131652497587396 -10.881235923901318 46
- 90 + 𝜃 -2.414213562373095 -28.190799999999999 50
T Bottom 0
28.1908 90 − 𝜃 2.414213562373095 -28.190799999999999 51
Bottom 150 + 𝜃 -0.131652497587396 -10.881235923901318 43
U a -b
Right 150 − 𝜃 -1.303225372841206 17.721544252545193 42
a=24.4140, b=28.1908, 𝜃=(45/2) , numbers obtained with format long in matlab
o

The second step is to write the above in MCNP input format. Here, material 8 (density 3.01 g/cc) and
material 9 (density 2.52 g/cc) are the reflector and absorber material respectively. Cells are numbered
404 – 436.

c CONTROL DRUMS
404 8 -3.01 -25 15 -3 imp:n=1 $ Top control drum
405 8 -3.01 25 -26 15 -3 48 49 imp:n=1 $ upper strip
406 9 -2.52 25 -26 15 -3 -49 -48 imp:n=1 $ 9 -2.52 B4C
407 8 -3.01 25 -26 15 -3 48 -49 imp:n=1 $ left strip
431 8 -3.01 25 -26 15 -3 -48 49 imp:n=1 $ right strip
c
408 8 -3.01 -27 15 -3 imp:n=1 $ TOP RIGHT
409 8 -3.01 27 -28 15 -3 -40 -41 imp:n=1
410 9 -2.52 27 -28 15 -3 40 -41 imp:n=1 $ B4C
411 8 -3.01 27 -28 15 -3 40 41 imp:n=1
432 8 -3.01 27 -28 15 -3 -40 41 imp:n=1
c
412 8 -3.01 -29 15 -3 imp:n=1 $ Bottom Right
413 8 -3.01 29 -300 15 -3 -43 -42 imp:n=1 $ lower strip
414 9 -2.52 29 -300 15 -3 43 -42 imp:n=1 $ B4C 9 -2.52
415 8 -3.01 29 -300 15 -3 43 42 imp:n=1 $ upper strip
433 8 -3.01 29 -300 15 -3 -43 42 imp:n=1 $ back strip
c
416 8 -3.01 -31 15 -3 imp:n=1 $ Bottom
417 8 -3.01 31 -32 15 -3 50 -51 imp:n=1 $ left strip
418 9 -2.52 31 -32 15 -3 -50 -51 imp:n=1 $ B4C
419 8 -3.01 31 -32 15 -3 51 -50 imp:n=1 $ right strip
434 8 -3.01 31 -32 15 -3 51 50 imp:n=1 $ bottom strip
c
420 8 -3.01 -33 15 -3 imp:n=1 $ Bottom Left
421 8 -3.01 33 -34 15 -3 -46 47 imp:n=1 $ upper strip
422 9 -2.52 33 -34 15 -3 -46 -47 imp:n=1 $ B4C
423 8 -3.01 33 -34 15 -3 46 -47 imp:n=1 $ lower strip
435 8 -3.01 33 -34 15 -3 46 47 imp:n=1 $ back strip
424 8 -3.01 -35 15 -3 imp:n=1 $ Top Left
425 8 -3.01 35 -36 15 -3 44 -45 imp:n=1 $ back strip
426 9 -2.52 35 -36 15 -3 -44 45 imp:n=1 $ B4C
427 8 -3.01 35 -36 15 -3 -44 -45 imp:n=1 $ lower strip
436 8 -3.01 35 -36 15 -3 44 45 imp:n=1 $ upper strip

C surfaces (Top Right to Bottom)

40 p 0.131652 -1 0 -10.881236 $ TR
41 p 1.303225 -1 0 17.721544
42 p 1.303225 1 0 17.721544 $ BR
43 p 0.131652 1 0 -10.881236
44 p 0.131652 1 0 10.881236 $ TL
45 p 1.303225 1 0 -17.721544
46 p 0.131652 -1 0 10.881236 $ BL
47 p -1.303225 1 0 17.721544
48 p -2.414214 1 0 28.1908 $T
49 p 2.414214 1 0 28.1908
50 p -2.414214 -1 0 28.1908 $ B
51 p 2.414214 -1 0 28.1908

The third step is to run MCNP in the ip mode with the commands:

mcnp5 ip inp=inpfile plot> pz 0 plot>extent 35 35 plot> label 0 0 plot> scales 1plot> color on plot> color
by mat plot> shade 1 red plot> shade 4 blue plot> shade 7 yellow plot> shade 8 green plot> shade 9
black plot>file

This gives a plotm.ps (or appropriately named file) which needs to be converted to the pdf format.
Figure 2 (a-d) shows the geometry with absorbers the way we wanted them for our simulation.

(a) (b)
 (c) (d)

Figure 2. (a) absorber regions, (b) absorbers in color facing core, (c) absorbers in core arrangement
facing core, and (d) absorbers facing “backwards”.