Sarah Mustafa

An overview of codes [MCNP, ANSYS, and

HOTSPOT], and spent fuel in dry storage

1) Monte Carlo all-particle transport codes

MCNP: is used for transport particle physics like neutrons, photons,
ions and electrons, and many other elementary particles, up to 1
𝑇𝑒𝑉/𝑛𝑢𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑜𝑛.
− And it contains Tabulated nuclear data to simulate the physics of
each collision a particle undergoes during the transport process.
− It simulates the particle tracking through the defined geometry,
the collision physics interactions, and variance reduction
methods, pseudo-random numbers are used to sample the
underlying probability density functions that describe each of the
event processes.
− The MCNP code contains numerous tallies: surface current and
flux, volume flux (track length), point or ring detectors, particle
heating, and fission heating.
− Important standard features that make the MCNP code versatile
and easy to use include a powerful general source, criticality
source, and surface source; both a fixed-source and k-eigenvalue
solution mode
 2) ANSYS
− a general-purpose, finite-element modeling package for
numerically solving a wide variety of mechanical problems.
These problems include static/dynamic, structural analysis, heat
transfer, and fluid problems, as well as acoustic and
electromagnetic problems.

3) HotSpot (HotSpot Health Physics codes)

− It was created to provide emergency response personnel and
emergency planners with a fast, field-portable set of software
tools for evaluating incidents involving radioactive material. The
software is also used for safety analyses of facilities handling
nuclear material.
− The HotSpot atmospheric dispersion models are designed for
near-surface releases, short-range (less than 10 km) dispersion,
and short-term (less than 24 hours) release durations in
unobstructed terrain and simple meteorological conditions.
These models provide a fast and usually conservative means for
estimation of the radiation effects associated with the
atmospheric release of radioactive materials.

spent nuclear fuel in dry storage

− Spent nuclear fuel” refers to fuel elements that have been used at
commercial nuclear reactors, but that are no longer capable of
economically sustaining a nuclear reaction. Periodically, about
one-third of the nuclear fuel in an operating reactor needs to be
unloaded and replaced with fresh fuel.
− Spent fuel continues to generate heat because of radioactive
decay of the elements inside the fuel. After the fission reaction is
stopped and the reactor is shut down, the products left over from
 the fuel’s time in the reactor are still radioactive and emit heat as
they decay into more stable elements. Although the heat
production drops rapidly at first, heat is still generated many years
after shutdown. Therefore, the NRC sets requirements on the
handling and storage of this fuel to ensure protection of the
public and the environment.
− Dry cask storage allows spent fuel that has already been cooled in
the spent fuel pool for several years to be surrounded by inert gas
inside a container called a cask. The casks are typically steel
cylinders that are either welded or bolted closed. The steel
cylinder provides containment of the spent fuel. Each cylinder is
surrounded by additional steel, concrete, or other material to
provide radiation shielding to workers and members of the public.