Abstract Measurement was made of the reaction rate distributions for 238U(n, f), 235U(n, f), 238U(n, γ), 27Al(n, α) and 58Ni(n, p) in a large depleted uranium (DU) pile. The pile consisted of DU blocks forming a spherical shell of 45.72 cm radius and 40.64 cm thick. 14-MeV neutrons were generated at the center. Fast neutron leakage spectrum was also measured by an NE-213 spectrometer. In order to assess the 238U neutron cross sections of JENDL-2, the experiment was analyzed using the Monte-Carlo transport code MCNP with continuous energy cross sections. The agreement between the calculation and the experiment is generally unsatisfactory. The ratios of calculation to experiment of low energy reactions decreased with the thickness of the DU layer. The analysis of the Livermore pulsed sphere experiment for the small DU sphere revealed underestimation of leakage neutron spectrum around 10 MeV. The 238U cross sections of JENDL-2 should be improved for 14-MeV neutronics calculation.