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Effect of photoneutrons on transients of beryllium reflected reactors

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:7353650

An analytical model is developed to account for the photoneutron sources present in a beryllium reflector. The time-dependent, two-dimensional and three energy-group diffusion equations are written with an additional photoneutron source term. Then an approximate flux composed of two spatial shapes chosen beforehand, each having an unknown time coefficient, is inserted into time-dependent multigroup equations and the weighted residual criterion is applied. This yielded multimode kinetics equations with generalized definitions for conventional matrix parameters: generation time, reactivity, delayed neutron and delayed photoneutron fraction matrices. Two transients are analyzed for the University of Missouri Research Reactor: simulation of rod drop experiment and rod withdrawal accident. For the first transient the effect of photoneutrons is found to be negligible. For the second case the photoneutron effect, though small, tends to slow down the transient. This study suggests that a space-dependent analysis is necessary to analyze both the transients.

Research Organization:
Missouri Univ., Rolla (USA)
OSTI ID:
7353650
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English