Investigation of antineutrino spectral anomaly with reactor simulation uncertainty

Abstract

Recently, three successful antineutrino experiments (Daya Bay, Double Chooz, and RENO) measured the neutrino mixing angle theta_{13}; however, significant discrepancies were found, both in the absolute flux and spectral shape. Much effort has been expended investigating the possible reasons for the discrepancies. In this study, Monte Carlo-based sampling was used to evaluate the fission fraction uncertainties. We found that fission cross-section uncertainties are an important source of uncertainty for ${}^{235}$U, ${}^{239}$Pu, and ${}^{241}$Pu, but for ${}^{238}$U, elastic and inelastic cross-sections are more important. Among uncertainty related to manufacturing parameters, fuel density is the main uncertainty; however, the total manufacturing uncertainty was very small. The uncertainties induced by burnup were evaluated through the atomic density uncertainty of the four isotopes. The total fission fraction uncertainties from reactor simulation were 0.83%, 2.24%, 1.79%, and 2.59% for235U, 238U, 239Pu, and 241Pu, respectively, at the middle of the fuel cycle. The total fission fraction uncertainty was smaller than the previously derived value of 5\%. These results are helpful for studying the reactor antineutrino anomaly and precisely measuring the antineutrino spectrum in the Daya Bay antineutrino experiment.

arXiv comment18 pages

References in corpus (13)

• Observation of electron-antineutrino disappearance at Daya Bay
• Observation of Reactor Electron Antineutrino Disappearance in the RENO Experiment
• Indication for the disappearance of reactor electron antineutrinos in the Double Chooz experiment
• Improved Predictions of Reactor Antineutrino Spectra
• Improved measurements of the neutrino mixing angle ${\theta }_{13}$ with the Double Chooz detector
• Spectral Structure of Electron Antineutrinos from Nuclear Reactors
• Improved Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay
• Antineutrino monitoring for the Iranian heavy water reactor
• Comparison of nuclear data uncertainty propagation methodologies for PWR burn-up simulations
• Investigating the Spectral Anomaly with Different Reactor Antineutrino Experiments
• Reactor Simulation for Antineutrino Experiments using DRAGON and MURE
• A new MC-based method to evaluate the fission fraction uncertainty at reactor neutrino experiment
• Uncertainties in the Anti-neutrino Production at Nuclear Reactors

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Comprehensive Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Spectrum and Flux at Daya Bay