MCNP COMMAND GUIDE

BLOCK 1: CELL CARD

ID cell number (no more than 5 digits)
M material number (defined later in
block 3 as m1, m2, etc.)
ID M surf imp:x=z
if M=0, VOID (no density)
no more than 5 digits
density of the material
(+) if atoms/b-1 cm-1
(-) if g/cm-3
eg.
surf cell definition wrt to bounding
surfaces
10 0
-10
imp:p=1
use union (A:B) or intersection
20 1 -7.86 10 -20 imp:p=1
(A B) of surfaces to define cell
for planes, (-) if L,D and (+) if
R,U wrt to surface
Cell 10
for enclosed surfaces (eg. sphere,
void space (i.e., vacuum)
cylinder), (-) IN and (+) OUT
imp

command
for importance of the
located inside surface 10
cell
with imp for photons of 1
can also be defined in block 3
x type of particle
Cell 20
p for photons
composed of material 1 defined in
e for electrons
block 3 (Fe) [only one material per
n for neutrons
cell]
3
z

value
of importance
with density of -7.86 g/cm
usually 1 for source
located in the space of intersection of
cells closer to tally region have
R of surface 10 and left of surface 20
high importance
with imp for photons of 1
if z=0, kill particles that enter the
cell
if z=1, track particle normally
BLOCK 2: SURFACE CARD + MACROBODIES
ID surface number
ID Mn CE
Mn mnemonic for surface type(see table)
CE card entries (eg. radius, x-coord)
eg. 10 so 30.0
20 c/z 5 5 10
Surface 10
Sphere centered at origin
R=30.0 cm

can be used for both surface and

macrobodies (see table for reference)
MCNP needs a boundary around the
problem geometry beyond which the
importance is zero

Surface 20
eg.
100 so 1000 (edge of universe)
cylinder parallel to z-axis
x & y-int = 5,5; R = 10.0 cm
BLOCK 3: DATA CARD
Mx material number (eg. M1, M20, etc.)
ZZZ atomic number (O = 008, Fe = 026)
AAA mass number
000 for elementals
AAA for isotopes (eg. 235U = 235) w/c
Mx ZZZAAA.nnX y
are usually used for neutron transport
.nnX cross section compilation identifier
(Material Specification)
y atomic abundance (eg. for H2O, H is 2
and O is 1)
x mass fraction (eg. for H2O, H is
M1 8016 1
-0.11190 and O is -0.88810)
M2 26000 1
mass fraction = mz/mtot
M3 6000 1
if g/cm3 is used (-)
no density component to allow one
material to appear at various densities

ZZZAAA.nnX
(Cross Section Specification)

ZZZ atomic number (O = 008, Fe = 026)

AAA mass number
000 for elementals
AAA for isotopes (eg. 235U = 235) w/c
are usually used for neutron transport
nn cross section evaluation identifier
X class of data
for neutrons, nnC = continuous
energy table & nnD = discrete
reaction table
photoatomic = nnP (01p = incoh, coh,
photoelec, pair prod, etc.; 02p = ext of
01p to high energies 10 MeV to
15/100 MeV; 03p = ext of 02p but
accounts momentum of e- for
Compton peak broadening; 04p =
tables from ENDF/B-VI.8, 1keV to
100GeV, Z=1 to 100, recommended
data se
photonuclear = nnU (ENDF-6, 13
nuclides
for electrons, nnE (.01e = energy, rad

stp pwr, bremss, k-edge energies,

auger e- prod energies, angular defl;
0.03e = includes density effect calc)
neutron dosimetry XS = nnY
neutron thermal S(,) tables = nnT

SDEF
(Source Specification)
POS = x y z

MODE x

specify the source and type of

particles
contains many variables and
parameters (refer to table 3)
ERG = energy in MeV
PAR = type of particle source emits
(n, n p, n p e =1; p, p e=2; e=3)
POS = reference pt for sampling
(POS=0 0 0)
If all default is used, just SDEF
x p for photon transport
e for electron transport
n for neutron (default if mode is omitted)
n p for neutron, neutron-induced photon
p e for photon and electron transport
n p e for neutron, neutron-induced photon
and electron transport

IMP:X C C C C

IMP:N 1 1 1 0

F1:X Y
F2:X Y
F4:X Y

specify the type of source particle to

be tracked
when mode is specified, the PAR entry
may be omitted in SDEF

X type of particle (i.e., N P E)

C importance of all cells in problem
if 4 cells in the problem, 4 entries in
IMP command
variance reduction technique
0 = termination of particles history
Used for geometry splitting and
Russian roulette to help particles
more easily to imp regions
X p for photon
e for electron
n for neutron
n, p for neutron, neutron-induced photon

F5:X Y
F6:X Y
F7:X Y
F8:X Y
(Tally Specification)

p,e for photon and electron

Y indicates surface or cell to be evaluated
F1 surface current (N P E); #
F2 surface flux (N P E); #/cm2
F4 cell flux (N P E); #/cm2
F5 flux at a point or ring (N P); #/cm2
F6 energy deposition(N P N,P); MeV/g
F7 fission energy deposition in cell (N);
MeV/g
F8 pulse height distribution (P E P,E);
pulses; total energy deposited by each
physical particle; not recommended for
neutrons

NPS N
(History Card)
CTME T
PHYS:P EMCPF IDES NOCOH PNINT
NODOP
PHYS:P 100 0 0 0 0 $100MeV, brems, coh
scat, no photonuc, Doppler

Used to specify what you want to

learn on MC calculation
Can be increments of 10 (F1 = F11 =
F21)
If F1, F2, F4, F5 are flagged with an
asterisk (*F1:N), tally of each event is
multiplied by photon energy (results
to tally of energy flux or energy
current)
If F6, F7 are flagged with an *, change
units from MeV.g to jerks/g (1 jerk =
109 J)
limits the maximum number of source
particle histories N
limits how long MCNP runs
physics simplification for photon and
electron
EMCPF = energy in MeV above which
simple physics is to be used
IDES = 0/1 indicates if bremsstrahlung
is included/ignored
NOCOH = 0/1 specify if coherent
scattering is included or ignored
PNINT = -1/0/1 indicates if
photonuclear interactions are used in
analog manner/ not used/ used w/ bias
NODOP = 0/1 turns Doppler broadening

PHYS:N EMAX EMCNF IUNR DNB

C, $

st

5 blanks in 1 5 columns, &

En E1 E2 E3 E4
(Tally Energy Card)
E24 1 2 3 4 (up to 4 MeV)
En E1 ni Emax $ n equispaced bins between
E1 and Emax

on/off
physics simplification for neutron
EMAX = energy in MeV above which
neutron data is not placed in memory
EMCNF = energy in MeV wherein
neutrons below EMCNF is treated by
analogue capture while above EMCNF
is treated by implicit capture
IUNR = if 1, avgd XS above resolved
XS are used; if 0, prob tables descr
interactions are sampled
DNB specifies if v(E) includes prompt
+delayed n (-1) or if only prompt n (0)
or delayed n per fission are to be used
(>0)
Comment cards which can be place
anywhere in input file
C should be followed by a space and be
found at columns 1-5
$ terminated data entry on a line
5 blanks indicate a continuation of data
from the last name card
& ending a line indicates data will
continue on the following card
When you wish to subdivide total flux
or current tally number into energy
groups
See flux as a function of energy
Results for tally 24 (type F4) are binned
in 4 energy groups
If En card is absent, only one bin over
all energies
E0 card = sets up a default energy bin
for ALL tallies

MCNP VISUAL EDITOR FORMAT

Title Card
Cell Card

Blank Line
Surface Cards
Blank Line
Mode
Source (only KCODE and ksrc if they exist)
Materials
Transformations
Importances
Other data (VOL, PWT, EXT, FCL, PD, DXC, NONU, WWN, TMP)
Data not recognized by visual editor