STATISTICAL ASPECTS OF THE KINETICS OF A CIRCULATING LIQUID METAL FUEL SUSPENSION REACTOR

Technical Report · Sat Oct 31 04:00:00 EST 1959

OSTI ID:4262637

Thompson, J J

Estimation of the response of a nuclear reactor operating at power to fluctuations in the fuel concentration in a liquid metal suspension used as fuel carrier and heat removal medium is discussed. The particular example is micron size particles of uranium metal in liquid sodium circulating through a beryllium moderator. The fluctuations are assumed random, and the mean square neutron density, power, and temperature fluctuations are given by the integrals of the appropriate spectral densities which are derived from the transfer functions of the reactor in terms of the mean fuel channel inlet concentrations. A uniform reactor is considered in detail, the basic functions being given explicitly, and calculations are reported for the particular system which has statistically similar but independent mean inlet fluctuations, whose autocorrelation function is assumed to be obtained from a Poisson distribution of concentration changes. The results obtained are of a general nature owing to lack of experimental observations on the fuel concentration fluctuations in a dilute suspension of heavy particles to be expected at the inlet to a reactor core, and the very large number of reactor parameters involved. (auth)

• Research Organization: Atomic Energy Commission, Australia
• NSA Number: NSA-13-007238
• OSTI ID: 4262637
• Report Number(s): A/CONF.15/P/1095
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BERYLLIUM MODERATOR
COOLANT LOOPS
DENSITY
DISTRIBUTION
EQUATIONS
ERRORS
FUEL SUSPENSIONS
FUELS
GRAIN SIZE
HEAT TRANSFER
LIQUID FLOW
LIQUID METAL COOLANT
LIQUID METAL FUEL
METALS
NEUTRON FLUX
NUMERICALS
POWER PLANTS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTORS
SODIUM
SPECTRA
STATISTICS
TEMPERATURE
THERMODYNAMICS
TRANSFER FUNCTIONS
TRANSIENTS
URANIUM
VARIATIONS