On the stability of the point reactor kinetics equations

As the basic neutronic problem is unstable by nature, maintaining a reactor critical is a task that requires a lot of effort. This work presents and discusses some aspects related to the stability of the basic physics behind a nuclear reactor core based on the well-known point reactor kinetics equat...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Theler, Germán G., Bonetto, Fabian Jose
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/124962
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/124962
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:STABILITY
NEUTRON
POINT KINETICS
NUCLEAR
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/2.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/2
Descripción
Sumario:As the basic neutronic problem is unstable by nature, maintaining a reactor critical is a task that requires a lot of effort. This work presents and discusses some aspects related to the stability of the basic physics behind a nuclear reactor core based on the well-known point reactor kinetics equations. First, the linear non-feedback case is studied where differences between Lyapunov and BIBO stability are found. These differences are shown both numerically and analytically, and explained using a reactor physics based reasoning. Finally, a simple model is used to analyse the intrinsic stability of the point reactor equations when reactivity feedbacks are taken into account. A method for constructing conceptual stability design maps is proposed and a basic interpretation of the simple results obtained is given.