Elementary Reactor Physics (eBook)

Front Cover 1
Elementary Reactor Physics 4
Copyright Page 5
Table of Contents 6
Preface 8
CHAPTER I. Introduction 10
CONDITIONS FOR A FISSION CHAIN REACTION 11
THE NUCLEAR REACTOR 12
THE NEUTRON LIFE CYCLE IN ATHERMAL REACTOR 14
CHAPTER II. Neutron Flux and Neutron Cross-sections 19
REACTOR FLUXES 20
THE THERMAL NEUTRON ENERGY SPECTRUM 21
THE MAXWELLIAN DISTRIBUTION 21
REACTION RATES IN A MAXWELLIAN DISTRIBUTION AND AVERAGE CROSS-SECTIONS 23
THE ENERGY SPECTRUM DURING SLOWING DOWN 24
THE COMPLETE ENERGY SPECTRUM 25
EFFECTIVE REACTOR FLUX AND CROSS-SECTION 26
"TRUE" FLUX AND THE CORRESPONDING CROSS-SECTION 27
THE WESTCOTT DEFINITION OF EFFECTIVE FLUX AND CROSS-SECTION 28
EFFECTIVE . VALUE 32
REFERNCES FOR CHAPTER II 33
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER II 33
CHAPTER III. Neutron Diffusion 35
TRANSPORT MEAN FREE PATH 39
THE NEUTRON BALANCE AND THE DIFFUSION EQUATION 39
SOLUTIONS OF THE STEADY DIFFUSION EQUATION 41
SOLUTIONS OF THE SOURCE-FREE EQUATION 41
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS 46
EXTRAPOLATION LENGTH 48
APPLICATION OF BOUNDARY CONDITIONS 50
THE EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF DIFFUSION PARAMETERS 52
THE PHYSICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIFFUSION AREA 57
DIFFUSION KERNELS 58
REFERENCES FOR CHAPTER III 58
QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER III 59
CHAPTER IV. The Slowing Down of Neutrons 61
ENERGY EXCHANGE DURING ELASTIC COLLISIONS 61
DISTRIBUTION OF NEUTRONEN ERGIES AFTER SCATTERING 63
THE AVERAGE LOGARITHMIC ENERGY DECREMENT 65
THE NEUTRON ENERGY SPECTRUM DURING SLOWING DOWN 68
THE MIGRATION OF NEUTRONS DURING SLOWING DOWN 77
FERMI AGE THEORY 78
SOLUTION OF THE AGE EQUATION 80
DISTRIBUTION OF SLOWING-DOWN DENSITY ABOUT A POINT SOURCE 82
PHYSICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF NEUTRON AGE 82
EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF NEUTRON AGE 83
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THERMAL NEUTRONS FROM A FAST NEUTRON SOURCE 85
REFERENCES FOR CHAPTER IV 87
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV 87
CHAPTER V. The Homogeneous Reactor 90
ONE-GROUP TREATMENT 90
CRITICAL SIZE 93
FLUX FLATTENING IN REACTORS 98
TWO-NEUTRON ENERGY GROUPS 106
CORE FLUXES 113
REFLECTOR FLUXES 115
REFERENCE FOR CHAPTER V 118
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER V 119
CHAPTER VI. The Heterogeneous Reactor 121
LATTICE CALCULATIONS 122
CALCULATION OF THE THERMAL UTILIZATION FACTOR f 124
RESONANCE CAPTURE IN A HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEM 129
THE DEPENDENCE OF / ON FUEL SIZE AND SHAPE 131
FAST FISSION FACTOR 133
CONVERSION FACTOR 135
SLOWING-DOWN AND DIFFUSION AREAS 136
THE EXPERIMENTAL BASIS OF LATTICE CALCULATIONS 140
REFERENCES FOR CHAPTER VI 142
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI 143
CHAPTER VII. The Effects of Temperature and of Fission Products 145
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS 145
NEUTRON ABSORPTION BY FISSION PRODUCTS 148
THE EQUILIBRIUM CONCENTRATION OF 135xe 149
EQUILIBRIUM REACTIVITY ABSORPTION BY 135Xe 149
135xe BUILD-UP 151
REFERENCES FOR CHAPTER VII 155
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VII 155
CHAPTER VIII. Long-term Changes 156
CHANGES IN FUEL COMPOSITION IN A 235u-238u MIXTURE 156
VARIATION OF HEAT OUTPUT WITH IRRADIATION 163
VARIATION OF CONTROL-ROD EFFECTIVENESS WITH IRRADIATION 164
FUEL CYCLES 165
REFERENCES FOR CHAPTER VIII 166
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VIII 167
CHAPTER IX. Control Rod Calculations 169
CALCULATION OF THE EFFECT OF A SMALL NUMBER OF RODS 171
ONE-GROUP, CENTRAL CONTROL ROD, FULLY INSERTED INTO AN INITIALLY UNFLATTENED REACTOR 172
TWO-GROUP CALCULATION FOR A SINGLE OFF-CENTRE CONTROL ROD 173
CONTROL AS A FUNCTION OF INSERTION DEPTH (SMALL NUMBERS OF RODS) 177
THE EFFECT OF A LARGE NUMBER OF RODS (COARSE CONTROL) 179
PARTIAL INSERTION OF THE COARSE GROUP 184
CONTROL ROD HEATING 187
CONTROL ROD EXTRAPOLATION LENGTHS 189
REFERENCES FOR CHAPTER IX 190
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IX 190
APPENDIX I: Useful Constants 192
APPENDIX II: Nuclear Data 193
APPENDIX III: Data for Westcott Effective Cross-Sections 195
APPENDIX IV: Solutions of the Age Equation 197
Index 202