OpenMC Input Files, Post-Processing Scripts, and Result Data for Neutronic Analysis of Accident-Tolerant Fuel Cladding Materials in the BEAVRS Benchmark
Description
This dataset accompanies the manuscript: "Neutronic Analysis of Cladding Materials for Accident-Tolerant Fuel in the BEAVRS Benchmark Using OpenMC" Author: Muhammad Abdullah Affiliation: Department of Nuclear Engineering, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) Contact: mabhutta_99@yahoo.com CONTENTS The dataset contains the OpenMC input-generation scripts, post-processing utilities, and the raw output data underlying every table and figure in the paper. Nine cladding materials are analysed: Zircaloy-4 (reference) plus eight accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) candidates — M5, C26M, APMT, 304SS, 310SS, Zirlo, SiC, and Cr-coated Zr. Eight parametric studies are included: (1) beginning-of-cycle material sweep (2) thin-cladding study (3) transport-coupled depletion to 500 days (4) Doppler (fuel) temperature coefficient (5) moderator (coolant) temperature coefficient (6) control rod worth (7) boron worth (8) convergence study and radial power distribution The full dataset spans over 800 individual OpenMC simulations. FILES all_studies_except_depletion.py — runs studies 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 with checkpoint/resume support depletion_only.py — runs study 3 (transport-coupled depletion) all_results_v10.csv — aggregated results for the non-depletion studies depletion_results_all.csv — depletion results from day 0 to day 500 depletion_progress_per_material.json — checkpoint file for the non-depletion script depletion_progress_all.json — checkpoint file for the depletion script publication_*.png / .pdf — final publication figures SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS OpenMC 0.15.0 or later (MIT licence) Python 3.10+ NumPy, h5py, Matplotlib beavrs Python package (MIT Computational Reactor Physics Group) ENDF/B-VII.1 cross-section library in HDF5 format chain_endfb71_pwr.xml depletion chain file (shipped with OpenMC) LICENCE Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) CITATION Abdullah, M. (2026). Neutronic Analysis of Cladding Materials for Accident-Tolerant Fuel in the BEAVRS Benchmark Using OpenMC. [Journal name, volume, pages]. DOI: [insert] Questions about the physics, the scripts, or the data are welcome at the contact address above.
Files
Steps to reproduce
STEP 1 — Install the software stack conda create -n openmc python=3.11 conda activate openmc conda install -c conda-forge openmc numpy matplotlib h5py pip install beavrs STEP 2 — Download nuclear data Download the ENDF/B-VII.1 HDF5 cross-section library. Set the environment variable to point at the library: export OPENMC_CROSS_SECTIONS=/path/to/endfb-vii.1-hdf5/cross_sections.xml Ensure chain_endfb71_pwr.xml is available (shipped with OpenMC). STEP 3 — Set up the working directory Create an empty working directory, e.g.: mkdir ~/ATF_paper && cd ~/ATF_paper Copy all scripts and JSON checkpoints from this dataset into it. Copy the BEAVRS Python package source, and run: pip install . STEP 4 — Run the non-depletion studies python all_studies_except_depletion.py The script detects which materials already have results in the JSON checkpoint and only processes the missing ones. Expect approximately 8–12 hours on a 4-core workstation for a full re-run. Safe to interrupt with Ctrl-C and resume later. STEP 5 — Run the depletion study python depletion_only.py This processes one material at a time and appends to depletion_progress_all.json. Expect 30–60 minutes per material. STEP 6 — Regenerate the publication figures Re-run the plotting section of all_studies_except_depletion.py. All figures are saved as PNG and PDF with a 300 dpi resolution. STEP 7 — Verify against the CSV files Compare generated CSV output to the reference CSVs included in this dataset. Monte Carlo k_eff values will differ by a few hundred pcm due to pseudo-random seed changes; the statistical uncertainty reported in the paper covers these differences. REPRODUCIBILITY NOTES - All simulations use BEAVRS Cycle 1 with boron = 800 ppm, fuel temperature = 900 K, coolant temperature = 600 K, and all control rods fully withdrawn, unless the study varies those parameters explicitly. - Radial boundary condition: reflective. Axial boundary condition: vacuum. - Temperature interpolation enabled between 294 K and 2500 K. - Non-depletion studies use 150 batches x 50,000 particles (BOC sweep) or 30 batches x 15,000 particles (parametric). - Depletion uses 25 batches x 12,000 particles with the PredictorIntegrator over 50-day steps to 500 days.
Institutions
- Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied SciencesIslamabad, Islamabad