xsgen is a tool for computing multi-group neutron cross-section, burnup, and multiplication factor (k_inf) as a function of reactor state, which includes time/fluence, material properties, and reactor geometry.

xsgen reads in reactor parameters, simulation parameters, and specific quantities to keep track of from a run-control file. After validation, we use these parameters to generate the set of possible reactor states. We group these states into runs, by finding the ones that have the same initial conditions and differ only by time.

For each run we have several timesteps, and for each timestep we run a neutron transport code like OpenMC to find the multiplication factor k and the group flux, φ_g. We then feed these values to a transmutation code such as ORIGEN2.2 to find the burnup and neutron production/destruction rates, as well as the transmutation of the material itself. Once we have done this for all timesteps, we write this out to libraries, theoretically of a variety of formats.

Support for this research has included funding received from:

xsgen depends on PyNE. You can find installation instructions for PyNE here.

To install from source, simply download the source code from the official GitHub repo and run setup.py:

$ git clone git://github.com/bright-dev/xsgen.git
$ cd xsgen/
$ python setup.py install --user

Currently, we require OpenMC and ORIGEN 2.2 for burnup and criticality computations. Installation instructions, along with a wealth of documentation, for OpenMC can be found here. ORIGEN 2.2 is distributed by RSICC at the above link.