Chapter 3 - Theory of neutron movement

Abstract

The power generation in a nuclear reactor is understood through neutron processes, heat transfer in nuclear fuel, and thermofluids for single phase (gas or liquid) and two-phase flow in the coolant that act as a neutron moderator in the reactor core. In this chapter, we give a brief introduction of the preliminaries on power generation and nuclear power reactors such as BWR, PWR, and innovative nuclear power reactors. The fundamentals of nuclear reactors are presented in order to dabble in the neutron transport theory where the Monte Carlo method is presented. The approximation P1 is discussed as it is fundamental in the context of this book because the Fickian and non-Fickian laws for neutron current density are crucial for the ideas of a fractional order law. Classical neutron diffusion theory is presented and the point reactor kinetics equations from the P1 equations of the neutron transport theory are derived.