Nuclear reactor theory and experiments.

Teacher(s)

Aït Abderrahim Hamid;

Language

English
> French-friendly

Main themes

Nuclear Reactor Theory Part I (Prof. W. D'haeseleer, KUL) Nuclear Reactor Theory Part II (Prof. J. -M. Noterdaeme, RUG) Nuclear Reactor Theory Part III (Prof. E. Mund, UCL) Laboratory sessions (Prof. P. Baeten, VUB) The following text books are used as references: John R. Lamarsh, "Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Theory", Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1972. James J. Duderstadt & Louis J. Hamilton, "Nuclear Reactor Physics", Wiley, New York, 1976.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	This course MECA2647 is the third part of a complete course on "Nuclear Reactor Theory" which is rated 8 ECTS within the Belgian interuniversity programme for Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering (BNEN). The main objectives of the complete course are : To understand physical processes involved in a nuclear reactor To understand and solve basic equations governing nuclear reactors To gain insight in experimental techniques to determine the various reactor parameters

Content

The full course comprises three parts of reactor theory and three laboratory sessions. Each theory session is about 2 hours of lectures, each lab session takes half a day. Nuclear Reactor Theory Part I (Prof. W. D'haeseleer) - Review of Nuclear Physics; Interaction of Neutrons with Matter. - Nuclear Fission; Nuclear Chain-Reacting systems; Diffusion of Neutrons - Diffusion of Neutrons: continued; Neutron Moderation without Absorption - Exercises Nuclear Reactor Theory Part II (Prof. J. -M. Noterdaeme) - Neutron Moderation with Absorption and Fission - Low Energy Neutrons - Fermi Theory of the Bare Thermal Reactor - Multiregion Reactors, The Group Diffusion Method - Multiregion Reactors, The Multigroup Diffusion - Exercises Nuclear Reactor Theory Part III (Prof. E. Mund) - Transport Theory - The Diffusion Approximation Revisited - Perturbation Theory - Nuclear Reactor Kinetics - Heterogeneous Reactors - Changes in Reactivity; Exercises Laboratory sessions (Prof. P. Baeten) Sigma Pile The purpose of this laboratory session is the determination of the basic static reactor parameters. VENUS Reactor The purpose of this laboratory session is the determination of the axial fission-rate distribution of a pure UO2 critical configuration at the VENUS critical facility. BR1 Reactor Subcritical approach of the BR1 reactor: the criticality of the reactor is determined by estimating the critical height of the control rods by successive measurements and verification of the estimated height and the actual critical height.

Other information

The course takes place at the Nuclear Research Centre of Belgium (SCKoCEN) in the framework of the BNEN postgraduate interuniversity programme. It is open for graduate and post-graduate students. Knowledge of physics and higher mathematics are a prerequisite. All activities take place over three weeks in January as a continuous teaching module. Full information are given on the BNEN website : http://www3.sckcen.be/bnen/.

Faculty or entity

> MECA