Endf/b-vii.0, Endf/b-vi, Jeff-3.1, and Jendl-3.3 Results for Unreflected Plutonium Solutions and Mox Lattices

Previous studies have indicated that ENDF/B-VII preliminary releases β-2 and β-3, predecessors to the recent initial release of ENDF/B-VII.0, produce significantly better overall agreement with criticality benchmarks than does ENDF/B-VI. However, one of those studies also suggests that improvements still may be needed for thermal plutonium cross sections. The current study substantiates that concern by examining criticality benchmarks for unreflected spheres of plutonium-nitrate solutions and for slightly and heavily borated mixed-oxide (MOX) lattices. Results are presented for the JEFF-3.1 and JENDL-3.3 nuclear data libraries as well as ENDF/B-VII.0 and ENDF/B-VI. It is shown that ENDF/B-VII.0 tends to overpredict reactivity for thermal plutonium benchmarks over at least a portion of the thermal range. In addition, it is found that additional benchmark data are needed for the deep thermal range