That a good finding that the nubar of U-232 was changed significantly in endf/VIII.1 and it has a considerable impact on your case scenario. I didn’t consider that isotope since the release note didn’t mention U232.
But after checking both endf files, endf81 has noted that the prompt neutron per fission (nubar prompt MT 456) was updated so that the total neutron per fission (nubar total MT 452) has been recalculated
I also tried to run my dummy depletion test with endf81 except that I changed the U232.h5 to use the h5 file from endf80, and the calculation was in good agreement (shown in black line) to endf80 and endf71,
The next problem may be validating nuclear data since this has an impact on some cases with substantial U232 in the core, which came from the use of Pa231 in your cases, increasing the production of U232.
You might want to ask “Which nuclear data can be used for my calculation?” later. But sorry, I haven’t done benchmark cases that use a significant amount of U232, so I can’t give any recommendations to benchmark this nuclear data.