Neutron flux spectra investigations in breeding blanket assembly containing lithium titanate and Lead irradiated with DT neutrons

•A benchmark experiment on LLCB TBM design was performed.•Nuclear responses measured are spectral indices of neutron induced reactions and neutron spectra unfolding with SAND-II-SNL code.•Measured reaction rates in different activation foils were compared with MCNP-IRDFF-1.05 and FISPACT-EAF2007 calculated values.•Calculated Lead multiplication is improved from FENDL-2.1 to FENDL-3.0 up to 2%.•Unfolded neutron spectra in the multiplier zones are slightly underestimated by calculations in the secondary neutron emission range of Pb(n, xn) reactions indicating the need of improvement in the (n, 2n) cross-section of Lead isotopes. A benchmark experiment was performed to obtain the neutron spectra in a breeding blanket assembly consisting of lithium titanate and Lead using multiple foil activation technique with unfolding code SAND-II-SNL. The purpose of the experiment was to validate the calculated neutron spectra and neutron induced reaction rates with MCNP-4A code and FENDL-2.1 & FENDL-3.0 transport libraries in the layered geometry of lithium titanate and Lead. Measured reaction rates in different activation foils were compared with MCNP-IRDFF-1.05 and FISPACT-EAF2007 calculated values. In general, FENDL-3.0 calculated reaction rates are closer to the measured reaction rates than FENDL-2.1 calculated rates. Calculated Lead multiplication is improved from FENDL-2.1 to FENDL-3.0 up to 2%. Unfolded neutron spectra in the multiplier zones are slightly underestimated by calculations in the secondary neutron emission range of Pb(n, xn) reactions indicating the need of improvement in the (n, 2n) cross-section of Lead isotopes. The observed underestimation in the Lead multiplication puts the tritium production calculations of breeding blankets using Lead as multiplier on conservative side. The inelastic scattering range of Lead isotopes is overestimated by calculations as large as 80% in one of the breeder zone. This observation requires improvement in the inelastic scattering cross-sections of Lead isotopes in FENDL evaluations.