CNUCTRAN: A program for computing final nuclide concentrations using a direct simulation approach

TL;DR

CNUCTRAN is a new probabilistic simulation program that accurately predicts nuclide concentrations in transmutation problems, offering a reliable alternative to traditional deterministic methods by directly simulating nuclear transformations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel probabilistic approach for simulating nuclide transmutation, avoiding numerical issues of traditional matrix exponential solutions.

Findings

Achieves less than 0.001% relative error compared to CRAM.

Effectively addresses numerical challenges in solving Bateman equations.

Provides a reliable alternative for transmutation analysis.

Abstract

It is essential to precisely determine the evolving concentrations of radioactive nuclides within transmutation problems. It is also a crucial aspect of nuclear physics with widespread applications in nuclear waste management and energy production. This paper introduces CNUCTRAN, a novel computer program that employs a probabilistic approach to estimate nuclide concentrations in transmutation problems. CNUCTRAN directly simulates nuclei transformations arising from various nuclear reactions, diverging from the traditional deterministic methods that solve the Bateman equation using matrix exponential approximation. This approach effectively addresses numerical challenges associated with solving the Bateman equations, therefore, circumventing the need for matrix exponential approximations that risk producing nonphysical concentrations. Our sample calculations using CNUCTRAN shows that the concentration predictions of CNUCTRAN have a relative error of less than 0.001% compared to the state-of-the-art method, CRAM, in different test cases. This makes CNUCTRAN a valuable alternative tool for transmutation analysis