Mathematical model of the point kinetic equations of a fast reactor in LabVIEW

Abstract

The reactor point kinetics equations have been subjected to intense research in an effort to find simple yet accurate numerical solution methods. Many solution techniques have been presented on the point kinetics equations with varying degrees of complexity including Power Series Solutions, CORE, PCA, Ganapol and Taylor series methods. In this paper, fast and simple algorithms were developed based on the first and second order Taylor series expansion and simulated in LabVIEW to solve the Reactor Point Kinetics. Simulations for a fast reactor are presented. At 1× 10^-8 s the neutron population was 1.000220 neutrons / cm³, at 1× 10^-2 s it was 2.007681 neutrons / cm³ and at 1× 10^-1 s it was 2.075317 neutrons / cm³.

Keywords: reactor point kinetics equations, taylor series approximations, neutron population density, fast reactor