Memorial-Index-Based Inverse Kinetics Method for Continuous Measurement of Reactivity and Source Strength

• Published in: Journal of nuclear science and technology Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 53 - 59
• Main Authors: KITANO, Akihiro, ITAGAKI, Masafumi, NARITA, Masakuni
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2000; Atomic Energy Society of Japan
• Subjects: Applied sciences; delayed neutrons; effective source strength; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; inverse neutron kinetics; Memorial Index; Metering, regulation, automation in energy; noise; reactivity; subcritical; the grouping method; Theoretical studies. Data and constants. Metering; Measurement; Neutron source; Kinetic method; Reactivity; Nuclear reactor
• DOI: 10.1080/18811248.2000.9714866
• ISSN: 0022-3131

A new neutron inverse kinetics method has been proposed to compute both reactivity and source strength using only noise-containing reactor power signals in a subcritical state. The method is applicable to cases when the effective source strength varies with a change in reactivity. A newly defined kinetics parameter, "Memorial Index", is introduced to detect properly the start and end of a transient and to exclude time intervals that are ill-posed for numerical source strength estimation analysis based on the grouping method. Results for a numerical simulation analysis demonstrate that the revised analytic procedure incorporated with the Memorial Index enables one to continuously calculate precise values of both source strength and reactivity during a complicated subcriticality transient.