The Thermal Scattering Law Project

Harnessing modern methods for material modeling and high-fidelity thermal scattering evaluations, the Scattering Law Project provides access to nuclear thermal scattering data from fundamental inputs to benchmark testing on key reactor and nuclear criticality materials to inspire and support the next generation of nuclear applications.

Beryllium Metal (Be-metal)

Beryllium metal (Be-metal) is a moderating and reflector material found in both reactor and criticality safety applications. Be-metal was modelled using ab initio lattice dynamics (AILD) methods using the VASP and PHONON codes with the thermal scattering law (TSL) calculated using FLASSH 1.0.

Two evaluations have been completed for beryllium: one under the cubic and incoherent approximations, one with full non-cubic treatment with one-phonon (Sd) corrections. The impact of the Sd treatment is primarily seen in the structure introduced to the TSL, but some impact is notable to the total cross section, improving overall agreement with experimental data and allowing for direct benchmarking of both the TSL and cross sections.

 Publications

Thermal neutron scattering law calculations using ab initio molecular dynamics
 

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