Analysis of Heterogeneous Reactors Containing Moderating Fuel Elements

Citation

Tesnière, André Jacques (1963) Analysis of Heterogeneous Reactors Containing Moderating Fuel Elements. Engineer's thesis, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/865C-1C75. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05182012-105801916

Abstract

The Feinberg-Galanin method for heterogeneous reactors is formulated by using a two-group model instead of an age kernel. This treatment is then extended to take into account secondary effects such as fast liasion and thermalization of neutrons inside a rod which may contain moderator. The use of single coefficient in a Feinberg-Galanin approach allows one to relate the source and sink strength of the fuel element to the thermal flux only. By defining a set of four coefficients it is possible to connect the strengths of thermal and fast neutron sources and sinks to both thermal and fast fluxes. A method of calculating these four coefficients α1, β1, α2 and β2 is presented.

The critical fuel mass of liasion electric cell reactor is calculated by using the four coefficient method. A value of approximately 0.77 kg is obtained, compared to a critical mass of 1.3 kg estimated from two-group homogeneous theory.

Thesis Files