A note on the response of a circulating fuel reactor to random fluctuation in fuel concentration

Abstract

A simplified model of a Uranium "Sodium" Beryllium circulating fuel reactor has been analysed to determine the root mean square power and temperature fluctuations due to random variations in the inlet fuel concentration. The results indicate that limits of ± 2% on the fuel concentration should reduce the mean square power excursion, due to this cause, to less than ½%. The calculations based on assumptions only, as regards the specification of the statistical nature of the fuel concentration, but the method can be used to obtain more realistic estimates when experimental evidence becomes available.