Photonuclear Neutron Production in OpenMC: Verification Against MCNPX, FLUKA, and a First-Collision Analytical Solution
This study verified OpenMC's photonuclear calculations by comparing them against MCNPX and FLUKA using single-collision benchmarks with 2H, 9Be, and 238U targets. Results show good agreement with MCNPX when using ENDF7u data, but highlights sensitivity to nuclear data changes and the importance of analyzing neutron spectra beyond just total yield.