3. DESCRIPTION
The Critically Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (CSBEP) was initiated in October of 1992 by the United Sates Department of Energy. The project quickly became an international effort as scientist from other interested countries became involved. The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) is now an official activity of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development - Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD-NEA).
This handbook contains criticality safety benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at various nuclear critical facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by criticality safety engineers to validate calculational techniques used to establish minimum subcritical margins for operations with fissile material and
to determine criticality alarm requirement and placement. Many of the specifications are also useful for nuclear data testing. The example calculations presented do not constitute a validation of the codes or cross section data.
The work of the ICSBEP is documented as an International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments. Currently, the handbook spans over 55,000 pages and contains 516 evaluations with benchmark specifications for 4,405 critical, near-critical, or subcritical configurations, 24 criticality alarm placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each, and 200 configurations that have been categorized as fundamental physics measurements that are relevant to criticality safety applications.
The handbook is intended for use by criticality safety analysts to perform necessary validations of their calculational techniques and is expected to be a valuable tool for decades to come.
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The ICSBEP Handbook is available on DVD. You may request a DVD by completing the DVD Request Form on the internet. Access to the Handbook on the Internet requires a password. You may request a password by completing the Password Request Form. The Web address is: http://www.oecd-nea.org/science/wpncs/icsbep/
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