Qualitative and quantitative investigation of the propagation noise in various reactor systems

Abstract

The space-dependent neutron noise, induced by propagating perturbations (propagation noise for short) is investigated in a one-dimensional homogeneous model of various reactor systems. By using two-group theory, the noise in both the fast and the thermal group is calculated. The purpose is to investigate the dependence of the properties of the space-dependent fast and thermal propagation noise on the static neutron spectrum as well as on the presence of the fluctuations of several cross sections. The motivation for this study arose in connection with recent work on neutron noise in molten salt reactors (MSR) with propagating fuel of various compositions. Some new features of the induced noise were observed, but it was not clear whether these were due to the propagating perturbation alone, or to the propagation of the fuel and hence that of the delayed neutron precursors. The present study serves to clarify the significance of the spectral properties of the different cores through calculating the propagation noise in four different reactor systems, as well as considering the influence of the perturbation of the various cross sections. By comparing the results with those obtained in MSR, the effect of the moving fuel on the propagation noise is clarified. It is shown that in fast systems the noise in the fast group is much larger than in the thermal group and hence can gain diagnostic importance. It is also shown that the coexistence of several cross section fluctuations leads to qualitatively and quantitatively new characteristics of the noise, hence it is important to model the effect of e.g. temperature fluctuations of the coolant in a proper way.