John Wiley & Sons, 1966, 462 pages
Author Preface
In less than a generation nuclear reactor physics has developed from esoteric beginnings to a branch of knowledge that has found its way into the college curriculum.
Although still taught primarily at the graduate level, there is already a significant number of colleges and institutions offering or planning to offer undergraduate degrees in nuclear science or engineering where courses in reactor physics are ;m integral part of the program. Undoubtedly this trend will persist and interest in nuclear technology at the undergraduate level will continue to grow through the added stimulus of large-scale financial support of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.
This book is intended to serve as a textbook for an undergraduate course in nuclear reactor physics. It has been my aim to give the elementary but coherent account of that branch of physics involved in the study and design of nuclear reactors at a standard of presentation judged to be suitable for advanced undergraduate students. The book is the outcome of a course which was originally developed at New York Maritime College as early as 1951. During the last seven years I have been giving this course to selected groups of junior and senior engineering students who have previously had one semester of atomic and nuclear physics and one semester of differential equations.
I have attempted to follow a consistent and logical line of development of the subject matter, steering a middle course between a too detailed and rigorous mathematical treatment and a too shallow and purely descriptive exposition. The mathematical skill required by students using this book does not go beyond calculus and elementary differential equations and, when mathematical arguments are used to ilk significant results which may not be immediately evident to the student, all necessary Intermediate steps arc shown in detail. I have tried not to overemphasize and treat in excessive detail any one topic, so as to keep the book well-balanced and within the bounds of an undergraduate course.
Many of the concepts are introduced early in the book, and their more detailed description is reserved for the latter part of the book where the mathematical technique for their use and application is explained. This procedure has considerable pedagogic value since it separates the conceptual difficulty or novelty from the purely technical difficulty involved in the leaing of a new concept. As the student later on encounters again to concept which he has already met earlier in his course, the sense of complete newness and sometimes overwhelming strangeness will be absent and instead, the feeling of relative familiarity will be of great help to him in leaing its practical use and application.
The first three chapters deal with some fundamental aspects of nuclear physics as far as they have a direct bearing on the physics of nuclear reactors. In this basic review course only those topics which are of immediate importance to the nuclear reactor physicist or engineer have been emphasized, whereas some others which may be indispensable to an over-all general understanding of nuclear phenomena have not been touched upon. Starting with the nucleus as a composite structure with inherent stability or the lack of it the logical line of development leads to a consideration of radioactivity, to the concept of binding energy and to an examination of the character of nuclear forces which are responsible for it. The liquid drop model of the nucleus is next introduced and nuclear reactions are explained in terms of the formation of a compound nucleus. Neutron reactions representing the most important type of nuclear reactions for our purpose are then considered, which leads to the concept of neutron cross sections The various neutron cross - section are subsequently examined and their energy dependence is described with some reference to neutron resonances and their relation to the compound nucleus. The neutron fission cross section leads to an examination of the physical aspects of nuclear fission and its explanation in terms of the previously described liquid drop model of the nucleus. It has been found that the consistent and systematic use of a nuclear model such as this is of tremendous help to students, especially engineering students, notwithstanding the shortcomings of such a model in some respects. The possibility of a chain-read item is subsequently presented and the necessary conditions for its satisfaction operation are examined. This material introduces the need for studying in some detail the interaction of neutrons with matter in bulk, the physics of thermal neutrons, and the thermalization of fission neutrons. This discussion is followed by an elementary exposition of neutron diffusion theory in a manner suitable for undergraduates, a consideration of the critical equation and of the spatial distribution of neutrons in finite reactor assemblies of simple geometries. Some aspects of the nonstationary reactor are then presented in an elementary manner together with some of the causes that lead to its nonstationary character. The concluding chapters deal with nuclear radiations that are associated with the operation of a nuclear reactor, their detection and measurement, and, finally, the need for protection against them and some elementary aspects of health physics.
It is hoped that this book will also be found helpful to graduate engineers, or scientists who want or need to familiarize themselves with some aspects of nuclear science as applied to reactors or allied fields, to those who require an intermediate textbook for their preparatory reading before embarking on a more advanced and intensive study of the subject, and to those who wish to gain a maximum of insight into the physical principles with a minimum of mathematical technique.
A large number of worked examples have been included which serve to illustrate the ideas developed in the book and to demonstrate their use for obtaining numerical answers to physical problems. Readers who are using this book for self-instruction should find these worked examples throughout the text especially helpful.
Author Preface
In less than a generation nuclear reactor physics has developed from esoteric beginnings to a branch of knowledge that has found its way into the college curriculum.
Although still taught primarily at the graduate level, there is already a significant number of colleges and institutions offering or planning to offer undergraduate degrees in nuclear science or engineering where courses in reactor physics are ;m integral part of the program. Undoubtedly this trend will persist and interest in nuclear technology at the undergraduate level will continue to grow through the added stimulus of large-scale financial support of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.
This book is intended to serve as a textbook for an undergraduate course in nuclear reactor physics. It has been my aim to give the elementary but coherent account of that branch of physics involved in the study and design of nuclear reactors at a standard of presentation judged to be suitable for advanced undergraduate students. The book is the outcome of a course which was originally developed at New York Maritime College as early as 1951. During the last seven years I have been giving this course to selected groups of junior and senior engineering students who have previously had one semester of atomic and nuclear physics and one semester of differential equations.
I have attempted to follow a consistent and logical line of development of the subject matter, steering a middle course between a too detailed and rigorous mathematical treatment and a too shallow and purely descriptive exposition. The mathematical skill required by students using this book does not go beyond calculus and elementary differential equations and, when mathematical arguments are used to ilk significant results which may not be immediately evident to the student, all necessary Intermediate steps arc shown in detail. I have tried not to overemphasize and treat in excessive detail any one topic, so as to keep the book well-balanced and within the bounds of an undergraduate course.
Many of the concepts are introduced early in the book, and their more detailed description is reserved for the latter part of the book where the mathematical technique for their use and application is explained. This procedure has considerable pedagogic value since it separates the conceptual difficulty or novelty from the purely technical difficulty involved in the leaing of a new concept. As the student later on encounters again to concept which he has already met earlier in his course, the sense of complete newness and sometimes overwhelming strangeness will be absent and instead, the feeling of relative familiarity will be of great help to him in leaing its practical use and application.
The first three chapters deal with some fundamental aspects of nuclear physics as far as they have a direct bearing on the physics of nuclear reactors. In this basic review course only those topics which are of immediate importance to the nuclear reactor physicist or engineer have been emphasized, whereas some others which may be indispensable to an over-all general understanding of nuclear phenomena have not been touched upon. Starting with the nucleus as a composite structure with inherent stability or the lack of it the logical line of development leads to a consideration of radioactivity, to the concept of binding energy and to an examination of the character of nuclear forces which are responsible for it. The liquid drop model of the nucleus is next introduced and nuclear reactions are explained in terms of the formation of a compound nucleus. Neutron reactions representing the most important type of nuclear reactions for our purpose are then considered, which leads to the concept of neutron cross sections The various neutron cross - section are subsequently examined and their energy dependence is described with some reference to neutron resonances and their relation to the compound nucleus. The neutron fission cross section leads to an examination of the physical aspects of nuclear fission and its explanation in terms of the previously described liquid drop model of the nucleus. It has been found that the consistent and systematic use of a nuclear model such as this is of tremendous help to students, especially engineering students, notwithstanding the shortcomings of such a model in some respects. The possibility of a chain-read item is subsequently presented and the necessary conditions for its satisfaction operation are examined. This material introduces the need for studying in some detail the interaction of neutrons with matter in bulk, the physics of thermal neutrons, and the thermalization of fission neutrons. This discussion is followed by an elementary exposition of neutron diffusion theory in a manner suitable for undergraduates, a consideration of the critical equation and of the spatial distribution of neutrons in finite reactor assemblies of simple geometries. Some aspects of the nonstationary reactor are then presented in an elementary manner together with some of the causes that lead to its nonstationary character. The concluding chapters deal with nuclear radiations that are associated with the operation of a nuclear reactor, their detection and measurement, and, finally, the need for protection against them and some elementary aspects of health physics.
It is hoped that this book will also be found helpful to graduate engineers, or scientists who want or need to familiarize themselves with some aspects of nuclear science as applied to reactors or allied fields, to those who require an intermediate textbook for their preparatory reading before embarking on a more advanced and intensive study of the subject, and to those who wish to gain a maximum of insight into the physical principles with a minimum of mathematical technique.
A large number of worked examples have been included which serve to illustrate the ideas developed in the book and to demonstrate their use for obtaining numerical answers to physical problems. Readers who are using this book for self-instruction should find these worked examples throughout the text especially helpful.