Simulation of Reactors for Antineutrino Experiments Using DRAGON

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of the open source DRAGON code for detailed reactor core simulations relevant to antineutrino experiments, comparing its accuracy to industry standards using real reactor data.

Contribution

It introduces the application of the open source DRAGON code for reactor simulation and evaluates its performance against proprietary codes using Takahama reactor data.

Findings

DRAGON provides comparable accuracy to industry-standard codes.

Uncertainty propagation affects antineutrino flux predictions.

Open source simulation tools can support next-generation neutrino experiments.

Abstract

From the discovery of the neutrino to the precision neutrino oscillation measurements in KamLAND, nuclear reactors have proven to be an important source of antineutrinos. As their power and our knowledge of neutrino physics has increased, more sensitive measurements have become possible. The next generation of reactor antineutrino experiments require more detailed simulations of the reactor core. Many of the reactor simulation codes are proprietary which makes detailed studies difficult. Here we present the results of the open source DRAGON code and compare it to other industry standards for reactor modeling. We use published data from the Takahama reactor to determine the quality of the simulations. The propagation of the uncertainty to the antineutrino flux is also discussed.