GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT REACTOR PHYSICS

This chapter presents the general considerations about reactor physics. In the past, the tendency was more oriented toward direct measurements of the quantities that were of interest. This involved rather expensive measurements centered on particular core arrangements. Simplified calculation methods were used and the results were adapted to the measured values through correlation of some rather arbitrarily chosen parameters. The chapter also discusses fundamental differences between the physics of high-temperature reactors and of the conventional thermal reactors. As with any engineering problem, the process of designing a nuclear reactor goes normally through various stages of increasing sophistication. Because of very high number of parameters that have to be defined, one must first perform a set of survey calculations covering a rather broad range of possible cases. Economic evaluations performed in conjunction with these surveys will then define optimum value of these parameters. This is usually an iterative procedure because some data will have to be given a trial value that can only be checked and corrected after having performed the calculation.