Fundamentals of Nuclear Engineering

CRITICALITY

CRITICALITY AND NEUTRON POPULATION

Criticality means to produce a self sustained chain reaction Neutrons play a fundamental role in initiating nuclear reactions A chain reaction may be initiated in principle by a single fission which yields more than one neutron that may be assumed to be captured entirely by fuel nuclide releasing 2nd generation, which in a similar way, give birth to third generation and so on. Hence self-sustained chain reaction is possible only when neutron production and neutron losses are balanced such that sufficient number of neutrons would remain still available to continue chain reaction The number or neutron released per thermal fission cannot be increased

therefore the only alternate is to reduce various causes responsible for the neutron losses in the given assembly of fissionable material IT IS BENEFICIAL TO CONSIDER INITIALLY THE FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY TOWARDS GROWTH OF NEUTRON IN A MULTIPLYING MEDIUM

POSITIVE TERMS (TEND TO INCREASE THE NEUTRON POPULATION) ( THE THERMAL REPRODUCTION ) The neutrons escaping the resonance absorption region are available for further interaction with the fissile fuel (# fast neutrons produced due to thermal fission) Reproduction factor = -----------------------------------------------------------------------(# thermal neutrons absorbed in the fuel) as probability of fission with decreasing En & approaches 580 barn at 0.0253 eV (figure). There is a good probability that these are absorbed in fissile material and cause fission

Dependence of fission cross-section on energy for U-235 & Pu-239

POSITIVE TERMS (TEND TO INCREASE THE NEUTRON POPULATION) ( THE FAST FISSION ) When neutron are released in fission they have an average energy of 2MeV (fast neutrons) Since energies > threshold energy of U-238 (1.1 MeV) these fast neutron may cause fission in U-238 causing a release of neutron hence contributing positively in neutron population growth
= (#n emitted by fast fissions + #n emitted by thermal fissions) / (#n emitted by thermal fissions ) = (Total Fissions) / (Thermal Fissions)

Usually fission probability is not that much as comp. to inelastic scattering or absorption therefore contribution is not substantial as maximum probability obvious from the figure is in the range of about 0.4 to 2 barns.

Dependence of fission cross-section on energy for U-238 & others

NEGATIVE TERMS (TEND TO DECREASE THE NEUTRON POPULATION) ( THE CAPTURE TO FISSION RATIO ) Neutron of any energy region may be captured by U-235 or U-238 without causing fission The types of such an interactions are those such as (n, ), (n,p), (n, ) or (n, D)

The probability of these reaction to occur is however very small.

Reproduction Factor is the average number of fast fission neutrons released as a

result of capture of one thermal neutron in fissionable material

(# fast neutrons produced due to thermal fission) Reproduction factor = -----------------------------------------------------------------------(# thermal neutrons absorbed in the fuel) is slightly smaller then the average number of neutrons emitted per fission as all the thermal neutrons absorbed in fissionable material do not cause fission Thus neutrons are absorbed according to their absorption probability a and out of these a major part created fission according to their fission probability f

the relation between and may be given as

Since f is lesser than a therefore the fraction reduce the value of
f/ a

f/ a

which is less than one, would

NEGATIVE TERMS (TEND TO DECREASE THE NEUTRON POPULATION)

( THE RESONANCE ABSORPTION ) When energy reduces below about 1 MeV

neutrons are absorbed in very large fraction in resonance range without causing fission This results in a substantial negative contribution in neutron population growth As can be seen from the plot of total absorption as a function of energy in figure

A sketch of total microscopic cross section for 238U92

NEGATIVE TERMS (TEND TO DECREASE THE NEUTRON POPULATION)

( THE FAST AND THERMAL NEUTRON LEAKAGES )

Neutron may simply escape from the reactor core usually termed as leakage from the core Leakage may occur at any energy but when two main energy groups are considered

such as thermal and fast neutrons then the probability is defined for these energies

The leakage probability primarily depends upon size and shape of the core assembly

NEGATIVE TERMS (TEND TO DECREASE THE NEUTRON POPULATION)

( THE ABSORPTION IN CONTROL AND STRUCTURAL MATERIALS )

Neutrons may be lost due to absorption in moderator, coolant, structural & control material. which contribute negatively in the neutron population growth A good fraction of neutrons may be absorbed in these materials

f = (Thermal neutrons absorbed in the fuel) /( thermal neutron absorbed in the whole system)

MAJOR DOMINATING FACTORS Normally the major dominating factor out of these are neutron absorption due to resonance peaks in epithermal region In order to counter its effect an option is to reduce the quantity of U-238 so that

lesser atoms may result in lesser number of neutrons absorbed in them

Thus increase in enrichment may be an alternate to look into in order to cater the excessive absorption in resonance peaks. The other alternate is to use a moderator and thus decrease neutron energy A moderator slows down the fast fission neutrons very quickly to thermal energies Absorption in U-238 resonance peaks is thus appreciably reduced due to large energy loss of neutron per collision with moderating nuclei. A much larger fraction of fission neutrons are hence thermalized and cause fission in U-235 The presence of high scattering cross section moderating material such as D2O may even compensates for the low content of U-235 available in natural uranium and makes a divergent chain reaction possible.

LIFE HISTORY OF A FAST NEUTRON IN A NATURAL URANIUM ASSEMBLY

(NEUTRON MULTIPLICATION IN CRITICAL SYSTEMS)

In order to assess these positive and negative terms various possible events may be considered that may happen to fast neutron during its life time. The life history of a fast neutron in a natural uranium assembly from time it was created to time it is finally absorbed or escaped from the core should be considered.

Suppose there are no thermal neutrons initially available for capture in fissionable material

If is the average number of fast fission neutrons released as a result of capture of one

thermal neutron in fissionable material, no fast neutrons will be produced as a result of

absorption of no thermal neutrons. A total of no fast neutrons released in fission will be available now for further interaction.

100 thermal neutrons

133 fast neutrons

Fuel U-235

= 1.33

no

no

100 thermal neutrons

133 fast neutrons

140 fast neutrons

Fuel U-235

U-238 in the Fuel

= 1.33 = 1.05

no

no

no

100 thermal neutrons

133 fast neutrons

140 fast neutrons 7 fast leakage Probability PFL= 0.05

133 fast neutrons

Fuel U-235 U-238 in the Fuel Fast Non Leakage Probability

= 1.33 = 1.05

PFNL=0.95

no

no

no

no

PFNL

100 hermal eutrons

133 fast neutrons

140 fast neutrons 7 fast leakage 133 Probability fast PFL= 0.05 neutrons

120 Thermal neutrons

Fuel U-235

U-238 in the Fuel

= 1.33

Fast Non Leakage Probabilit y

Resonance Escape Probability

114 thermal PTL= 0.05 neutrons

Thermal leakage
Thermal Non Leakage
Probability

= 1.05

PFNL=0.95 p=0.90

PTNL=0.95

no

no

no

no

PFNL

no

p PFNL

no

pPFNPTNL

100 hermal eutrons

133 fast neutrons

140 fast neutrons 7 fast leakage 133 Probability fast PFL= 0.05 neutrons

114 Thermal neutrons

Fuel U-235

U-238 in the Fuel

= 1.33

Fast Non Leakage Probabilit y

Resonance Escape Probability

114 103 thermal PTL= 0.05 neutrons Thermal neutrons

Thermal leakage
Thermal Non Leakage
Probability

Thermal
Utrilization
Factor

= 1.05

PFNL=0.95 p=0.90

PTNL=0.95

f=0.90

no

no

no

no

PFNL

no

p PFNL

no

pPFNPTNL

no

pPFNPTNLf