Deterministic simulation of the static neutronic characteristics for the lead core of VENUS-II facility

•Group constants are generated based on a refined Monte Carlo model.•A deterministic model is constructed using the SN program named DAISY.•The deterministic results are in good agreement with the Monte Carlo results.•Suggestions of parameters selection for subsequent space-time kinetic simulations are given. In order to make preparations for the follow-up kinetic behavior studies, we construct a deterministic model for the lead core of the VENUS-II facility, and carry out some analyses of the static neutronics characteristics. In the modeling processes, we apply the so-called Cell-Based-Assemblies method to generate the group constants using the Monte-Carlo models, for which, several difficulties induced by the complex materials, the special neutron spectrum and space distribution in this reactor are overcome. The effective multiplication factors, the space distribution and the energy group distribution of the neutron flux driven by the fixed source at a sub-critical mode are compared with the Monte-Carlo results. At the same time, we have analyzed the influence of different energy group structures, different discrete directions and different transport calculation methods. The results show that, except for the 8-group structure, the parameters obtained by the deterministic method are in good agreement with the results of the Monte-Carlo method.