MANE 4430 - LINEAR ACCELERATOR LABORATORY

Course Description 
Lab Schedule 
Report Format 
Grading policy 
Review of Uncertainty Analysis slides 

Radiation Badge Request 
RSICC Code Request.pdf 

SMath Studio and other Examples
Maxima plugin is needed. Unzip files to a folder and double click the .sm file to open

Required Software

The laboratory experiments were designed to provide experimental data that will be compared to results of common Nuclear Engineering computer codes. You are requested to obtained the codes at the beginning of the semester. The software can be obtained from: RSICC.
The codes that you will need from RSICC:

  • MCNP - Get the latest version (currently 6.3). Suggest reading AN MCNP PRIMAER by Shultis and Faw
We will also use NJOY 2016 for cross section calculations. This code is open source and much easier to compile on Linux than Windows. The code was installed on the lab computers.
To use the code in windows 10 or 11 it is best to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) which will also install Ubuntu that is required. Before instaling WSL make sure your windos system is fully updated. Once this system in installed and working you will need to open a ubuntu command prompt and update the system: 
sudo apt-get update        # Fetches the list of available updates
sudo apt-get upgrade       # Strictly upgrades the current packages
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade  # Installs updates (new ones)
Install the required software as listed on the NJOY16 site:
  • gcc: 
    sudo apt install gcc
  • gfortran: 
    sudo apt-get install gfortran
  • python - should be already installed
  • cmake: 
     sudo apt-get -y install cmake
Folow the instruction on the 2016 web site to complete the installation (copied here).
    git clone https://github.com/njoy/NJOY2016.git
    cd NJOY2016
    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ../
    make -j8
The install will display many warnings but should complete successfully
To make sure the installation is correct run the tests (you should already be in the build folder): 
    make test

SRIM, this is a code for charge particles transport. Follow the instructions to download SRIM-2013 and pay attention to the instructions at the bottom of the page. You need to read the recommended file and follow the suggested methods otherwise the code will not work properly for you.

OpenMC
OpenMC is a community-developed Monte Carlo neutron and photon transport simulation code. The are two ways to install it on Windows, the first and recommended is to use a homemade windows version, and the second is to use Docker which is a container that can run different pre-configured software on different computer operating systems. The Docker version can be updated by installing a new image, while the homemade solution is the openmc version used at the time of compilation.
Unlike mcnp, python is used to create the input and run openmc.

Installing openmc for windows

  • If you do not already have python version 3.7 or higher, first install python. It is recommended to install miniconda
  • Unzip the openmc distribution to a folder named openmc.
  • Open and miniconda command prompt (where python command is working from the command prompt) and navigate to the openmc folder.
  • Open the readme.md file with a file editor (like notepad) and follow the instructions.
  • To run for example Assignment2 change to the Assginment2 folder and type: python Assignment2a-V2.py
  • For interpretation of the results make sure to attend class....

Installing the Docker version of openmc

  • First install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
  • Install Docket from the Docker web page
  • Once Docker is installed enter openmc in the top search box and press search, select images and the select the openmc/openmc:latest image and click Pull (below)
  • After openMC is installed, in your Windows Docker application, click images and it should be there.
  • Create a directory c:\temp\openmc
  • Open a command prompt and run 
    docker run --volume=C:\temp\openmc:/home -it --name=my_openmc openmc/openmc:latest
  • this will result an a prompt #
  • The command you just ran also links the Windows folder c:\temp\openmc with the openMC container folder /home.
  • Donwload the example file and place it in c:\temp\openmc (you can use your faviroite editor to look at the file)
  • In the docker command prompt (#) type: 
    pyton Assignment2a-1.py
  • You should see the code output flashing on the screen and the result tallies are printed the end. Although the python script is plotting, the plot will not show up.
  • The results are also in the file: tallies.out