Effect of anisotropic scattering in neutronics analysis of BWR assembly

The anisotropic scattering effect to keff is studied for UO2 and MOX fueled BWR assemblies. The anisotropic scattering effect increases the assembly k∞ by 0.44% Δk for the UO2 assembly with 0% void fraction, and by 0.21% Δk for the MOX assembly with 0% void fraction. This is because the anisotropic scattering effect flattens the intra-assembly thermal flux, and the absorption rate in the surrounding water gap is decreased, but the absorption rates in the MOX fuel rods are increased compared to the UO2 rods. Therefore, the total decrease in absorption rates in the UO2 assembly is relatively large, and the k∞ is increased in the UO2 assembly. The dependence of the anisotropic scattering effect on the void fraction is investigated, and the significant difference of 0.62% Δk/k is found for the 0% and the 80% void fractions. The BWR assemblies with Gd rods are also considered. Furthermore, the usefulness of the transport cross section is investigated, and it is found that the transport cross section gives reasonable anisotropic scattering effect, though not satisfactory.