A Study of Transverse Buckling Effect on the Characteristics of Nuclides Burnup Wave in a Fast Neutron Multiplying Media

Abstract

A study of transverse buckling effect on the characteristics of nuclides burnup wave in multiplying media (cylindrical geometry) has been carried out. The burnup wave is characterized in terms of velocity of propagation, transient length (TL), and transient time (TT) in establishing the burnup wave and full width at half maximum (FWHM) in the established region of the wave. The uranium–plutonium fuel cycle is considered. The sensitivity of the results is studied for different radial buckling led leakage of neutrons. It is discovered that the velocity of the wave increases with the increase in the radius of the cylinder (i.e., reduction in the transverse buckling and hence increase in radial neutron leakage). FWHM is relatively insensitive to radial neutron leakage. The transient time and transient length are very large for smaller radius; these decrease with the increase in radius. The study provides insight on the build-up of burnup wave in the neutron multiplying media and brings out the importance of transverse buckling led radial neutron leakage on the characteristics of fuel burnup wave in multiplying media.