Reactivity and power regulation in candle reactors

Abstract

This work studies stationary nuclear fission wave in a fast spectrum CANDLE reactor, and the relation between the wave velocity/power, parameters of the core, and reactivity. Special perturbation theory is developed. A generally applicable equation is obtained that is linear in reactivity, small variations of the core parameters, and velocity-dependent contributions of different origin (assumed to be small). Numerical calculations confirm good accuracy of the perturbation theory, for particular model and example nuclear constants. The investigated properties are important for the needs of reactor design, and thus should be studied numerically applying reactor analysis codes. The obtained results can provide benefits for efficient application of the codes which calculate keff at fixed power, especially for Monte Carlo codes.