Saturday, March 28, 2009

Textbooks: Neutron Science and Reactor Physics

Textbooks

The text book for this course is:

Amazon logo Lamarsh, John. Introduction to Nuclear Engineering. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. ISBN: 9780201824988.

This covers basic reactor physics as part of a complete survey of nuclear engineering.
Readings may also be assigned from certain of the books listed below:

Amazon logo Henry, A. F. Nuclear Reactor Analysis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1975. ISBN: 9780262080811.


Amazon logo Shultis, J., and R. Faw. Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker, 2002. ISBN: 9780824708344.


Amazon logo Hewitt, G., and J. Collier. Introduction to Nuclear Power. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis, 2000. ISBN: 9781560324546.


Amazon logo Turner, J. Atoms, Radiation, and Radiation Protection. New York, NY: Pergamon Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780080319377.


Amazon logo Kneif, R. Nuclear Criticality Safety: Theory and Practice. American Nuclear Society, 1985. ISBN: 9780894480287.


Amazon logo Knoll, G. Radiation Detection and Measurement. New York, NY: Wiley, 2000. ISBN: 9780471073383.

Grading Policy



ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES
Homework 20%
Four exams (20% each; lowest grade is dropped) 60%
Final exam (3.0 hours) 20%

Calendar


Lec # Topics
1 Introduction/reactor layout and classification
2 Chart of nuclides/neutron sources
3 Neutron reactions/Boltzman distribution/number density
4 Neutron cross-sections
5 Binding energy/liquid drop model/fission process

Tour of MIT research reactor
6 Burners, converters, breeders/neutron life cycle
7 Neutron life cycle
8 Criticality accidents/why is radiation dangerous
9 Neutron flux, reaction rates, current
10 One velocity model

Exam 1
11 Non-multiplying media
12 Multiplying media
13 Criticality conditions
14 Kinematics of neutron scattering
15 Group diffusion method
16 Solution of group equations

Exam 2
17 Energy dependence of flux
18 Group theory/four factor formula
19 Reactors of finite size
20 Reactors of multiple regions: One group
21 Reactors of multiple regions: Two group
22 Application of the two-group equations
23 Few group and multi-group approaches
24 Monte Carlo analysis

Exam 3
25 Subcritical multiplication and reactor startup
26 Reactor operation without feedback
27 Analytic solution of reactor kinetics
28 Dynamic period and inhour equation
29 Reactor operation with feedback effects
30 Achievement of feedback effects/Chernobyl

Exam 4
31 Shutdown margin/review of TMI

Review

Sumber:

http://web.mit.edu/nse/index.html

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Neutron Science and Reactor Physics Tutorials

Neutron Science And Reactor Physics Video Lectures

Exposing Nuclear Reactions (Part 1 of 5)
Engineering from Texas A&M University and a MS and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. McGregor has also performed research for the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. Links to informative news articles by The New American magazine and other sources: Another Look at Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy is on the go, helping countries in Europe and other parts of the world solve their energy woes economically and safely. Will America get back on board? ...

Exposing Nuclear Reactions (Part 2 of 5)
Engineering from Texas A&M University and a MS and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. McGregor has also performed research for the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. Links to informative news articles by The New American magazine and other sources: Another Look at Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy is on the go, helping countries in Europe and other parts of the world solve their energy woes economically and safely. Will America get back on board? ...

Exposing Nuclear Reactions (Part 3 of 5)
Engineering from Texas A&M University and a MS and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. McGregor has also performed research for the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. Links to informative news articles by The New American magazine and other sources: Another Look at Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy is on the go, helping countries in Europe and other parts of the world solve their energy woes economically and safely. Will America get back on board? ..



Sumber:

http://web.mit.edu/nse/index.html

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Neutron Science and Reactor Physics

22.05 Neutron Science and Reactor Physics

Fall 2006


Staff

Instructor:
Prof. John Bernard

Course Meeting Times

Lectures:
Three sessions / week
1 hour / session

Recitations:
One session / week
2 hours / session

Level

Undergraduate



The MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory is a tank-type reactor. The fuel elements of uranium are positioned in a hexagonal core structure at the bottom of the core tank, while power is controlled by six shim blades and an automatic regulating rod. The pressure in the system is roughly atmospheric, and the maximum temperature approximately 120 degrees F. (Image courtesy of William McGee. Used with permission.)

Course Description

This course introduces fundamental properties of the neutron. It covers reactions induced by neutrons, nuclear fission, slowing down of neutrons in infinite media, diffusion theory, the few-group approximation, point kinetics, and fission-product poisoning. We emphasize the nuclear physics basis of reactor design and its relationship to reactor engineering problems.

Syllabus

Amazon logo Help support MIT OpenCourseWare by shopping at Amazon.com! MIT OpenCourseWare offers direct links to Amazon.com to purchase the books cited in this course. Click on the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book from Amazon.com, and MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of all purchases you make. Your support will enable MIT to continue offering open access to MIT courses.

Course Objective

The central problem of reactor physics can be stated quite simply. It is to compute, for any time t, the characteristics of the free-neutron population throughout an extended region of space containing an arbitrary, but known, mixture of materials. Specifically we wish to know the number of neutrons in any infinitesimal volume dV that have kinetic energies between E and E + ΔE and are traveling in directions within an infinitesimal angle of a fixed direction specified by the unit vector Ω.

If this number is known, we can use the basic data obtained experimentally and theoretically from low-energy neutron physics to predict the rates at which all possible nuclear reactions, including fission, will take place throughout the region. Thus we can predict how much nuclear power will be generated at any given time at any location in the region.


Sumber:

http://web.mit.edu/nse/index.html

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Radioactivity

  In 1896, Henri Becquerel was working with compounds containing the element uranium. To his surprise, he found that photographic plates covered to keep out light became fogged, or partially exposed, when these uranium compounds were anywhere near the plates. This fogging suggested that some kind of ray had passed through the plate coverings. Several materials other than uranium were also found to emit these penetrating rays. Materials that emit this kind of radiation are said to be radioactive and to undergo radioactive decay.

     In 1899, Ernest Rutherford discovered that uranium compounds produce three different kinds of radiation. He separated the radiations according to their penetrating abilities and named them a alpha, b beta, and g gamma radiation, after the first three letters of the Greek alphabet. The a radiation can be stopped by a sheet of paper. Rutherford later showed that an alpha particle is the nucleus of a He atom, 4He. 

Beta particles were later identified as high speed electrons. Six millimeters of aluminum are needed to stop most b particles. Several millimeters of lead are needed to stop g rays , which proved to be high energy photons. Alpha particles and g rays are emitted with a specific energy that depends on the radioactive isotope. Beta particles, however, are emitted with a continuous range of energies from zero up to the maximum allowed for by the particular isotope.

α decay

     The emission of an a particle, or 4He nucleus, is a process called a decay. Since a particles contain protons and neutrons, they must come from the nucleus of an atom. The nucleus that results from a decay will have a mass and charge different from those of the original nucleus. A change in nuclear charge means that the element has been changed into a different element. Only through such radioactive decays or nuclear reactions can transmutation, the age-old dream of the alchemists, actually occur. The mass number, A, of an a particle is four, so the mass number, A, of the decaying nucleus is reduced by four. The atomic number, Z, of 4He is two, and therefore the atomic number of the nucleus, the number of protons, is reduced by two. This can be written as an equation analogous to a chemical reaction. For example, for the decay of an isotope of the element seaborgium, 263Sg:


263Sg ----> 259Rf + 4He



The atomic number of the nucleus changes from 106 to 104, giving rutherfordium an atomic mass of 263-4=259. a decay typically occurs in heavy nuclei where the electrostatic repulsion between the protons in the nucleus is large. Energy is released in the process of a decay. Careful measurements show that the sum of the masses of the daughter nucleus and the a particle is a bit less than the mass of the parent isotope. Einstein's famous equation, E=mc2, which says that mass is proportional to energy, explains this fact by saying that the mass that is lost in such decay is converted into the kinetic energy carried away by the decay products.

β Decay

     Beta particles are negatively charged electrons emitted by the nucleus. Since the mass of an electron is a tiny fraction of an atomic mass unit, the mass of a nucleus that undergoes b decay is changed by only a tiny amount. The mass number is unchanged. The nucleus contains no electrons. Rather, b decay occurs when a neutron is changed into a proton within the nucleus. An unseen neutrino,, accompanies each b decay. The number of protons, and thus the atomic number, is increased by one. For example, the isotope 14C is unstable and emits a β particle, becoming the stable isotope 14N:

14C ----> 14N + e- +

 
  In a stable nucleus, the neutron does not decay. A free neutron, or one bound in a nucleus that has an excess of neutrons, can decay by emitting a b particle. Sharing the energy with the b particle is a neutrino. The neutrino has little or no mass and is uncharged, but, like the photon, it carries momentum and energy. The source of the energy released in b decay is explained by the fact that the mass of the parent isotope is larger than the sum of the masses of the decay products. Mass is converted into energy just as Einstein predicted.

γ Decay

     Gamma rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation that results from a redistribution of electric charge within a nucleus. A g ray is a high energy photon. The only thing which distinguishes a g ray from the visible photons emitted by a light bulb is its wavelength; the g ray's wavelength is much shorter. For complex nuclei there are many different possible ways in which the neutrons and protons can be arranged within the nucleus. Gamma rays can be emitted when a nucleus undergoes a transition from one such configuration to another. For example, this can occur when the shape of the nucleus undergoes a change. Neither the mass number nor the atomic number is changed when a nucleus emits a g ray in the reaction:

 152Dy* ----> 152Dy + γ

Source:

http://www.lbl.gov/abc/Basic.html