Evaluation and use of the prompt fission neutron spectrum and spectra covariance matrices in criticality and shielding

The prompt fission neutron spectra covariance matrices of 235U, 238U and 239Pu were evaluated using the Monte Carlo method for two empirical spectra formulations, Watt and Kornilov, and compared to the existing evaluations such as JENDL-3.3. The fission spectra, together with the covariance matrices and the methods for the calculation of the corresponding sensitivity profiles were validated on several applications, including shielding (VENUS-3 benchmark, pressure vessel dosimetry) as well as on fast and thermal reactor systems (KRITZ and SNEAK critical experiments). A new set of parameters for a Kornilov model is proposed that improve both benchmark performance and the agreement with recently measured differential spectra. A recommendation to use constrained sensitivity coefficients was confirmed for the case of the fission spectrum induced uncertainty in the effective multiplication factor (keff) and in the detector responses, in order to assure the proper normalisation of the corresponding covariance matrices.