A method for reducing the largest relative errors in Monte Carlo iterated-fission-source calculations

In Monte Carlo iterated-fission-source calculations relative uncertainties on local tallies tend to be larger in lower-power regions and smaller in higher-power regions. Reducing the largest uncertainties to an acceptable level simply by running a larger number of neutron histories is often prohibitively expensive. The uniform fission site method has been developed to yield a more spatially-uniform distribution of relative uncertainties. This is accomplished by biasing the density of fission neutron source sites while not biasing the solution. The method is integrated into the source iteration process, and does not require any auxiliary forward or adjoint calculations. For a given amount of computational effort, the use of the method results in a reduction of the largest uncertainties relative to the standard algorithm. Two variants of the method have been implemented and tested. Both have been shown to be effective. (authors)