Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Methods and Errors in Subcriticality Measurements by Rod Drop Flux Profile Analysis

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7177012· OSTI ID:7177012
 [1]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
The degree of subcriticality of a multiplying assembly having a spontaneous fission-neutron source may be inferred by inducing an additional change in multiplication and by following the flux profile through the course of this change to its final stationary state. It is important to assess the significance of noise effects insofar as they bias the estimate of initial subcriticality and as they place confidence limits on this estimate. A procedure is described for profile analysis which includes the effects of all noise sources. The procedure is more nearly equivalent to the traditional prompt-jump three-point analysis than to the more general inverse kinetics analysis. A code for extracting initial subcriticality and errors from a flux profile subject to an arbitrary noise level is provided.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
7177012
Report Number(s):
ANL-7966
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English