OpenMC/docs/source/releasenotes/0.12.1.rst

====================
What's New in 0.12.1
====================

.. currentmodule:: openmc

-------
Summary
-------

This release of OpenMC includes an assortment of new features and many bug
fixes. The :mod:`openmc.deplete` module incorporates a number of improvements in
usability, accuracy, and performance. Other enhancements include generalized
rotational periodic boundary conditions, expanded source modeling capabilities,
and a capability to generate windowed multipole library files from ENDF files.

------------
New Features
------------

- Boundary conditions have been refactored and generalized. Rotational periodic
  boundary conditions can now be applied to any N-fold symmetric geometry.
- External source distributions have been refactored and extended. Users writing
  their own C++ custom sources need to write a class that derives from
  ``openmc::Source``. These changes have enabled new functionality, such as:

  - Mixing more than one custom source library together
  - Mixing a normal source with a custom source
  - Using a file-based source for fixed source simulations
  - Using a file-based source for eigenvalue simulations even when the number of
    particles doesn't match

- New capability to read and write a source file based on particles that cross a
  surface (known as a "surface source").
- Various improvements related to depletion:

  - Reactions used in a depletion chain can now be configured through the
    ``reactions`` argument to :meth:`openmc.deplete.Chain.from_endf`.
  - Specifying a power of zero during a depletion simulation no longer results
    in an unnecessary transport solve.
  - Reaction rates can be computed either directly or using multigroup flux
    tallies that are used to collapse reaction rates afterward. This is enabled
    through the ``reaction_rate_mode`` and ``reaction_rate_opts`` to
    :class:`openmc.deplete.Operator`.
  - Depletion results can be used to create a new :class:`openmc.Materials`
    object using the :meth:`openmc.deplete.ResultsList.export_to_materials`
    method.

- Multigroup current and diffusion cross sections can be generated through the
  :class:`openmc.mgxs.Current` and :class:`openmc.mgxs.DiffusionCoefficient`
  classes.
- Added :func:`openmc.data.isotopes` function that returns a list of naturally
  occurring isotopes for a given element.
- Windowed multipole libraries can now be generated directly from the Python API
  using :meth:`openmc.data.WindowedMultipole.from_endf`.
- The new :func:`openmc.write_source_file` function allows source files to be
  generated programmatically.

---------
Bug Fixes
---------

- `Proper detection of MPI wrappers <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1619>`_
- `Fix related to declaration order of maps/vectors <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1622>`_
- `Check for existence of decay rate attribute <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1629>`_
- `Small updates to deal with JEFF 3.3 data <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1638>`_
- `Fix for depletion chain generation <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1642>`_
- `Fix call to superclass constructor in MeshPlotter <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1644>`_
- `Fix for data crossover in VTK files <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1645>`_
- `Make sure reaction names are recognized as valid tally scores <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1647>`_
- `Fix bug related to logging of particle restarts <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1649>`_
- `Examine if region exists before removing redundant surfaces <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1650>`_
- `Fix plotting of individual universe levels <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1651>`_
- `Mixed materials should inherit depletable attribute <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1657>`_
- `Fix typo in energy units in dose coefficients <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1659/files>`_
- `Fixes for large tally cases <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1666>`_
- `Fix verification of volume calculation results <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1677>`_
- `Fix calculation of decay energy for depletion chains <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1679>`_
- `Fix pointers in CartesianIndependent <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1681>`_
- `Ensure correct initialization of members for RegularMesh <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1683>`_
- `Add missing import in depletion module <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1715>`_
- `Fixed several bugs related to decay-rate <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1718>`_
- `Fix how depletion operator distributes burnable materials <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1719>`_
- `Fix assignment of elemental carbon in JEFF 3.3 <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1722>`_
- `Fix typo in RectangularParallelepiped.__pos__ <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1724>`_
- `Fix temperature tolerance with S(a,b) data <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1733>`_
- `Fix sampling or normal distribution <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1739>`_
- `Fix for SharedArray relaxed memory ordering <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1764>`_
- `Check for proper format of source files <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1771>`_
- `Ensure (n,gamma) reaction rate tally uses sampled cross section <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1776>`_
- `Fix for temperature range behavior <https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc/pull/1777>`_

------------
Contributors
------------

This release contains new contributions from the following people:

- `Andrew Davis <https://github.com/makeclean>`_
- `Guillaume Giudicelli <https://github.com/GiudGiud>`_
- `Sterling Harper <https://github.com/smharper>`_
- `Bryan Herman <https://github.com/bryanherman>`_
- `Yue Jin <https://github.com/kingyue737>`_
- `Andrew Johnson <https://github.com/drewejohnson>`_
- `Miriam Kreher <https://github.com/mkreher13>`_
- `Shikhar Kumar <https://github.com/shikhar413>`_
- `Jingang Liang <https://github.com/liangjg>`_
- `Amanda Lund <https://github.com/amandalund>`_
- `Adam Nelson <https://github.com/nelsonag>`_
- `April Novak <https://github.com/aprilnovak>`_
- `YoungHui Park <https://github.com/ypark234>`_
- `Ariful Islam Pranto <https://github.com/AI-Pranto>`_
- `Ron Rahaman <https://github.com/RonRahaman>`_
- `Gavin Ridley <https://github.com/gridley>`_
- `Paul Romano <https://github.com/paulromano>`_
- `Jonathan Shimwell <https://github.com/Shimwell>`_
- `Dan Short <https://github.com/DanShort12>`_
- `Patrick Shriwise <https://github.com/pshriwise>`_
- `Roy Stogner <https://github.com/roystgnr>`_
- `John Tramm <https://github.com/jtramm>`_
- `Cyrus Wyett <https://github.com/cjwyett>`_
- `Jiankai Yu <https://github.com/rockfool>`_