Solutions Set #4

3
1
[5.1] What is l of 0.0253 eV thermal neutron in graphite ( a 0.273 10 cm )?
3
1
What is l in of 1 MeV fast neutron in iron ( a 0.738 10 cm )?
(Note that a 0.0253 eV neutron has a speed of 2200m/s)

Since l 1 v For the thermal neutron

a
l 1
0.0167 s
2.2 105 cm s 1 0.273 10
3 cm 1
For the fast neutron, we must first calculate the speed. Since kinetic energy is
proportional to speed squared E2 E1 v22 v12 or v2 v1 E2 E1 . Thus
v2 2.2 105 cm s 1 106 eV 0.0253eV 13.8 10
8 cm / s Thus
l 1
0.98 106 s
13.8 108 cm s 1 0.738 10
3 cm1
[5.4] Suppose that a fissile material is discovered for which all of the neutrons are
prompt. The neutron population is then governed by Eq. (5.22). Furthermore suppose
that a reactor fueled with this material has a prompt neutron lifetime of 0.002 s.
a. If the reactor is initially critical, and there is no source present, what period should
the reactor be put on if it is to triple its power in ten seconds?
b. What is the reactivity needed in part a?
Solution:
a. Since the reactor period is determined from n(t ) n(0) exp(t / T ) or
T t /(ln n(t ) / n(0)) T 10 /(ln 3) 9.1 sec.
b. Since n(t ) n(0) exp( / ) , k 1 (ln n(t ) / n(0))l / t ln(3) 0.002 /10 0.00022
Thus k=1.00022 and 0.00022
[5.6] A thermal reactor fueled with uranium operates at 1.0 W. The operator is to increase
the power to 1.0 kW over a two-hour span of time.
a. What reactor period should she put the reactor on?
b. How many cents of reactivity must be present to achieve the period in part a.?
a. exp(12 / T ) 103 . Thus T 2 / ln(103 ) 0.290hr 17.4 min
c. Since the period is very long the positive reactivity must be quite small relative to
, we may use the approximation from p 82: T /( ) or /(T ) Using
Eq. (5.34) and Table 5.1 ,
I
1
2
3
4
5
6
total

lamda
0.0124
0.0305
0.111
0.301
1.14
3.01

beta
0.000215
0.001424
0.001274
0.002568
0.000748
0.000273
0.006502

beta/lamda
0.01733871
0.046688525
0.011477477
0.008531561
0.00065614
9.06977E-05
0.084783111

1/lamda=sum/beta
lamda =

13.03954341
0.076689802

0.077 s 1 Hence
1

1/(0.077 s 17.4 min 60 s / min) 0.0124 dollars 1.24cents

[5.7] A thermal reactor fueled with uranium operates at 1.0 W. The operators put in on a
15 min period. How long will the reactor take to reach a power of 1.0 MW?
We have simply, n(t ) n(0) exp(t / T ) or
t T (ln n(t ) / n(0)) 15 ln(106 ) 207min. =3.45 hrs.
[5.11] Using the kinetics equations with one-delayed group from problem [10]:
a. find the reactor period when , simplifying your answer by assuming
/ = 1 .
b. Calculate the reactor period for 0.007 , 5 105 s, and 0.08 s-1.
For , and S=0the first of the pair of equations reduces to
d
n(t ) C (t ) Let n(t ) A exp(t ) and C (t ) B exp(t ) The two equations
dt

then reduce to A B and B A CB Eliminating A and B between then gives

2
the quadratic equation / 0 which has the solutions:
2 4 /

1 1 4 /
2
2
of the largest . Thus
1
2
T
1 1 4 /

= 1 , we have / ? 1 and
Since

The period corresponds to the inverse

1 1 4 / 1 2 / 2 /

Hence

T /
5 / 0.007 0.000571 = 1 Thus
For the data given, / 0.08 5 10
T 5 105 / 0.08 0.007 0.299 s
[5.13] A critical reactor operates at a power level of 80 W. Dropping a control rod into
the core causes the flux to undergo a sudden decrease to 60 W. How many dollars is the
control rod worth? .
n0
80
1 0.333$
From Eq. (3.63) / 1
n1
60