MCNP6 is simply and accurately described as the merger of MCNP5 and MCNPX capabilities, but it is much more than the sum of these two computer codes. MCNP6 is the result of six years of effort by the MCNP5 and MCNPX code development teams. These groups of people, residing in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s X Computational Physics Division, Monte Carlo Codes Group (XCP-3) and Nuclear Engineering and Nonproliferation Division, Radiation Transport Modeling Team (NEN-5) respectively, have combined their code development efforts to produce the next evolution of MCNP. While maintenance and major bug fixes will continue for MCNP5 1.60 and MCNPX 2.7.0 for upcoming years, new code development capabilities only will be developed and released in MCNP6. In fact, the initial release of MCNP6 contains numerous new features not previously found in either code. These new features are summarized in this document. Packaged with MCNP6 is also the new production release of the ENDF/B-VII.1 nuclear data files usable by MCNP. The high quality of the overall merged code, usefulness of these new features, along with the desire in the user community to start using the merged code, have led us to make the first MCNP6 production release: MCNP6 version 1. High confidence in the MCNP6 code is based on its performance with the verification and validation test suites, comparisons to its predecessor codes, our automated nightly software debugger tests, the underlying high quality nuclear and atomic databases, and significant testing by many beta testers.

MCNP6 is simply and accurately described as the merger of MCNP5 and MCNPX capabilities, but it is much more than the sum of those two computer codes. MCNP6 is the result of five years of effort by the MCNP5 and MCNPX code development teams. These groups of people, residing in Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) X Computational Physics Division, Monte Carlo Codes Group (XCP-3), and Decision Applications Division, Radiation Transport and Applications Team (D-5), respectively, have combined their code development efforts to produce the next evolution of MCNP. While maintenance and bug fixes will continue for MCNP5 1.60 and MCNPX 2.7.0 for upcoming years, new code development capabilities only will be developed and released in MCNP6. In fact, the initial release of MCNP6 contains 16 new features not previously found in either code. These new features include the abilities to import unstructured mesh geometries from the finite element code Abaqus, to transport photons down to 1.0 eV, to transport electrons down to 10.0 eV, to model complete atomic relaxation emissions, and to generate or read mesh geometries for use with the LANL discrete ordinates code Partisn. The first release of MCNP6, MCNP6 Beta 2, is now available through the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center, and the first production release is expected in calendar year 2012. High confidence in the MCNP6 code is based on its performance with the verification and validation test suites, comparisons to its predecessor codes, the regression test suite, its code development process, and the underlying high-quality nuclear and atomic databases.

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product. or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product. process. or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

Both neutron images and spectra will diagnose ignition implosions at the National Ignition Facility. From the integrated Hohlraum and capsule calculations of copper-doped beryllium capsules using ∼1MJ of laser energy we have postprocessed neutron spectra and both energy-gated and time integrated neutron images displaying the observable consequences of two-dimensional Hohlraum asymmetries. If low signal precludes multiple down scattered images, we suggest a 6–12MeV gate. With asymmetries, it is noted that the neutron yield, spectra, and images vary with observation direction. The yield varies only several percent when observed at different angles. Since most asymmetries are expected about the Hohlraum axis, a perpendicular view has the highest priority. The next most informative view would be along the Hohlraum axis, but may be precluded by target chamber structures. We present images at the available port angles and discuss their utility. To facilitate detailed diagnostic simulations with real pinhole geometries or penumbral apertures, we offer a compact disk containing neutron spectra and gated images from various integrated calculations.

In July of 2004, an updated version of MCNP5{trademark} (MCNP5-RSICC-1.30) was released to the Radiation Shielding Information Computational Center. This updated version has three new features, thirteen bug fixes and several minor coding improvements. The new features are: support for 8 byte integers, specialized tally treatment of large lattices, and mesh tally enhancements. Of the thirteen bug fixes, only four resulted in incorrect answers in specific circumstances. In addition to the standard RSICC distribution of the MCNP5 source, executables and patches, the patch file (only) is available on the MCNP website: http://www-xdiv.lanl.gov/x5/MCNP/theresources.html. The three new MCNP5 features are discussed. Several new improvements have also been made to the manual and development environment. All of the features, bug fixes, coding improvement issues and related documentation are now maintained in Sourceforge. Fortran and C source code and regression test problems are now under version control with CVS.

Mixing between the shell and fuel in directly driven single shell capsule implosions causes changes in yield, burn history, burn temperature, areal density, x-ray image shape, and the presence of atomic mix. Most observations are consistent with a mix model using the same values of its single free parameter as with indirectly driven single shell and double shell capsules. Greater mixing at lower gas pressure fills reduces capsule yield. Time dependent mixing growth causes truncation of the burn history. This emphasizes early yield from the center of the capsule, raising the observed burn temperature. Mixed fuel areal densities are lower because fuel moves through the shell and the observation weights earlier times when areal density is lower. Shell x-ray emission mixing into the fuel fills in the limb brightened image to produce a central peak. Implosions of 3He filled capsules with a layer of deuterated plastic show substantial atomic mix.

Pulse height tallies are commonly used in Monte Carlo codes to predict detailed measured photon spectra for spectrometry purposes. The pulse height tally is unique among the various tallies in MCNP. Unlike flux or current tallies, which are calculated as soon as the particle exits or collides in the cell, the entire set of tracks for a history must be completed before the pulse height tally can be made. The objective of this work was to verify the pulse height tally and prepare to verify the new MCNP 5 variance reduction features with the pulse height tally.In this paper, we give details to the analytic solution of the pulse height distribution using a modification to Shuttleworth's fictitious elements, report MCNP 5 results for the pulse height tally, energy deposited and current tallies for the problem. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A number of published numerical solutions to analytic eigenvalue (keff) and eigenfunction equations are summarized for the purpose of creating a criticality verification benchmark test set. The 75-problem test set allows the user to verify the correctness of a criticality code for infinite medium and simple geometries in one-, two-, three-, and six-energy groups, with one-, two-, and four-media. The problems include both isotropic and linearly and quadratically anisotropic neutron scattering. The problem specifications will produce both keff = 1 and the quoted k∞ to at least five decimal places. MCNP (Briesmeister, 1997) and DANTSYS (Alcouff, R.E, et al., 1995) have been verified using these problems. Additional uses of the test set for code verification are also discussed.

The Monte Carlo transport workhorse, MCNP [Los Alamos National Laboratory report LA-13709-M, 2000], is undergoing a massive renovation at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in support of the Eolus Project of the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASCI) Program. MCNP 1 Version 5 (V5) (expected to be released to RSICC in Fall 2002) will consist of a major restructuring from FORTRAN-77 (with extensions) to ANSI-standard FORTRAN90 [American National Standard for Programming Language - Fortran-Extended, ANSI X3. 198-1992, 1992] with support for all of the features available in the present release (MCNP-4C2/4C3). To most users, the look-and-feel of MCNP will not change much except for the improvements (improved graphics, easier installation, better online documentation). For example, even with the major format change, full support for incremental patching will still be provided. In addition to the language and style updates, MCNP V5 will have various new user features. These include improved photon physics, neutral particle radiography, enhancements and additions to variance reduction methods, new source options, improved parallelism support (PVM, MPI, OpenMP), and new nuclear and atomic data libraries. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Monte Carlo transport workhorse, MCNP, is undergoing a massive renovation at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in support of the Eolus Project of the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASCI) Program. MCNP Version 5 (V5) (expected to be released to RSICC in Spring, 2002) will consist of a major restructuring from FORTRAN-77 (with extensions) to ANSI-standard FORTRAN-90 with support for all of the features available in the present release (MCNP-4C2/4C3). To most users, the look-and-feel of MCNP will not change much except for the improvements (improved graphics, easier installation, better online documentation). For example, even with the major format change, full support for incremental patching will still be provided. In addition to the language and style updates, MCNP V5 will have various new user features. These include improved photon physics, neutral particle radiography, enhancements and additions to variance reduction methods, new source options, and improved parallelism support (PVM, MPI, OpenMP).

The Los Alamos National Laboratory Monte Carlo N-Particle radiation transport code, MCNP, has become an international standard for a wide spectrum of neutron-gamma radiation transport applications. These include nuclear criticality safety, radiation shielding, nuclear safeguards, nuclear oil-well logging, fission and fusion reactor design, accelerator target design, detector design and analysis, health physics, medical radiation therapy and imaging, radiography, decontamination and decommissioning, and waste storage and disposal. The latest version of the code, MCNP4C (1), was released to the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC) in February 2000. This paper describes the new features and capabilities of the code, and discusses the specific applicability to neutron-gamma problems. We will also discuss some of the future directions for MCNP code development.

The MORSE (Multigroup Oak Ridge Stochastic Experiment) Monte Carlo code is a three-dimensional (3D) multipurpose neutron and gamma-ray transport code that has been in use for nearly 30 years and has undergone several evolutions during that time. This article will describe the current capabilities and the future directions of the two versions that are distributed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory: MORSE-SGC and MORSE-CGA. MORSE-SGC is part of the SCALE computer code system, both as a stand-alone program and as part of two of the shielding analysis sequences. MORSE-CGA differs from MORSE-SGC in its cross-section handling and in its requirement for user-supplied analysis routines.

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective of the project was to create effective new algorithms for solving N-body problems by computer simulation. The authors concentrated on developing advanced classical and quantum Monte Carlo techniques. For simulations of phase transitions in classical systems, they produced a framework generalizing the famous Swendsen-Wang cluster algorithms for Ising and Potts models. For spin-glass-like problems, they demonstrated the effectiveness of an extension of the multicanonical method for the two-dimensional, random bond Ising model. For quantum mechanical systems, they generated a new method to compute the ground-state energy of systems of interacting electrons. They also improved methods to compute excited states when the diffusion quantum Monte Carlo method is used and to compute longer time dynamics when the stationary phase quantum Monte Carlo method is used.

The problem of obtaining valid confidence intervals based on estimates from sampled distributions using Monte Carlo particle transport simulation codes such as MCNP is examined. Such intervals can cover the true parameter of interest at a lower than nominal rate if the sampled distribution is extremely right-skewed by large tallies. Modifications to the standard theory of confidence intervals are discussed and compared with some existing heuristics, including batched means normality tests. Two new types of diagnostics are introduced to assess whether the conditions of central limit theorem-type results are satisfied: The relative variance of the variance determines whether the sample size is sufficiently large, and estimators of the slope of the right tail of the distribution are used to indicate the number of moments that exist. A simulation study is conducted to quantify the relationship between various diagnostics and coverage rates and to find sample-based quantities useful in indicating when intervals are expected to be valid. Simulated tally distributions are chosen to emulate behavior seen in difficult particle transport problems. Measures of variation in the sample variance s(2) are found to be much more effective than existing methods in predicting when coverage will be near nominal rates. Batched means tests are found to be overly conservative in this regard. A simple but pathological MCNP problem is presented as an example of ''false'' convergence using existing heuristics. The new methods readily detect the false convergence and show that the results of the problem, which are a factor of 4 too small, should not be used. Recommendations are made for applying these techniques in practice, using the statistical output currently produced by MCNP.

The Monte Carlo code MCNP has three different, but correlated, estimators for calculating k(eff) in nuclear criticality calculations: collision, absorption, and track length estimators. The combination of these three estimators, the three-combined k(eff) estimator, is shown to be the best k(eff) estimator available in MCNP for estimating k(eff) confidence intervals. Theoretically, the Gauss-Markov theorem provides a solid foundation for MCNP's three-combined estimator. Analytically, a statistical study, where the estimates are drawn using a known covariance matrix, shows that the three-combined estimator is superior to the estimator with the smallest variance. Empirically, MCNP examples for several physical systems demonstrate the three-combined estimator's superiority over each of the three individual estimators and its correct coverage rates. Additionally, the importance of MCNP's statistical checks is demonstrated.

Monte Carlo simulations performed with radiation transport codes such as MCNP are extensively used to model radiation transport. Resulting sampled tally distributions can be extremely right-skewed. This skewness hampers valid confidence interval (CI) formation, lengthening the time needed to obtain a sample representative of the entire underlying distribution. The relevant concern is whether the number of histories n is large enough so that the standardized sample mean follows an approximately Gaussian distribution; i.e., when the conditions of the central limit theorem are satisfied. When these conditions are satisfied, CIs are valid in that they cover the true mean at the proper rate.