NEA Mandates and Structures

Technical Review Group for the International Criticality Safety Benchmarks Evaluation Project

Chair(s):	John BESS, United States	Secretary:	Ian HILL (ian.hill@oecd-nea.org)
Member(s):	All NEA member countries^*
	Russia (Suspended*)
	^*Russian Federation suspended pursuant to a decision of the OECD Council.
Full participant(s):	European Commission Under the NEA Statute
Observer(s)(International Organisation):	International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) By agreement
Date of creation:	30 September 2000
End of mandate:	30 June 2021

Mandate (Document reference):

Summary Record of the 4th meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 15 September 2000 [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPNCS(2001)1]
Summary Record of the 15th meeting of the Nuclear Science Committee held on 9-11 June 2004 [NEA/SEN/NSC(2004)3]
Summary Record of the 18th meeting of the Nuclear Science Committee held on 13-15 June 2007 [NEA/SEN/NSC(2007)3]
Summary Record of the 21st meeting of the Nuclear Science Committee held on 9-11 June 2010 [NEA/SEN/NSC(2010)3]
Summary Record of the 23rd meeting of the Nuclear Science Committee held on 13-15 June 2012 [NEA/SEN/NSC(2012)3]
Summary Record of the 16th meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 21 September 2012 [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2013)6] – Change of name from “WPNCS Expert Group on Criticality Safety Benchmarks” to “Technical Review Group for the International Criticality Safety Benchmarks Evaluation Project”
Summary Record of the 19th meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 10 July 2015
Summary Record of the 21st meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 30 June 2017 [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2017)2]
Summary Record of the 23rd meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 27 September 2019 [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2020)1] (forthcoming)
Mandate of the Technical Review Group for the International Criticality Safety Benchmarks Evaluation Project [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2019)9]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2019)9]

Mandate

Scope

Under the direction of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS), the Technical Review Group will coordinate the programme of the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the development of the ICSBEP handbook and database. These comprise an evaluated set of benchmark specifications derived from experiments performed at various nuclear critical facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by criticality safety engineers to validate calculational techniques used to establish minimum subcritical margins for safe operations with fissile material. Close links will also be maintained with the technical review group for the Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD).

The Technical Review Group will also develop a database tool (DICE) to facilitate user access to the ICSBEP benchmarks.

Objectives

The main objective of the ICSBEP is to provide the nuclear community with an evaluated set of benchmark specifications by collecting criticality experiment data from the nuclear criticality laboratories, worldwide. More specifically the objectives are as follows:

identify and evaluate a comprehensive set of critical and sub-critical benchmark experiment data;
verify the data, to the extent possible, by reviewing original and subsequently revised documentation, and by talking with the experimenters or individuals who are familiar with the experimenters or the experimental facility;
evaluate the experimental data and uncertainties;
transform evaluated measurements into benchmarks that are appropriate for validation ofcalculation methods, adjust measurement results and uncertainties accordingly;
compile the benchmark data into a standardised format;
perform calculations of each experiment with standard criticality safety codes;
formally document the work into a single source of verified benchmark data;

The Technical Review Group will closely co-ordinate its work with other subsidiary bodies of the Nuclear Science Committee developing databases of integral experiments. In particular, there will be close links with the Working Party on Scientific Issues of Reactor Systems (WPRS) Expert Group on Reactor Physics and Advanced Nuclear Systems (EGRPANS). This group is responsible for co-ordinating the development of the International Reactor Physics Experiments (IRPhE) database.

A key element of the evaluation process is a rigorous analysis of the uncertainties, including quantification of correlations between experiments. There will be strong linkage between the ICSBEP Technical Review Group and the WPNCS Subgroup on the Role of Integral Experiment Uncertainties and Covariance Data in Criticality Safety Validation.

Deliverables

Provide annual editions of the Handbook on DVD and provide downloadable versions through suitably protected websites in accordance with NEA Data Bank protocols;
Develop and maintain a database tool (DICE) to allow users to search the database using keywords and create listings of benchmarks with matched characteristics. The tool is to be distributed with the handbook in accordance with NEA Data Bank protocols.