Progress in Nuclear Energy 52 (2010) 743e746

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Progress in Nuclear Energy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pnucene

Solution of the nonlinear point nuclear reactor kinetics equations

Abdallah A. Nahla*, Elsayed M.E. Zayed
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Taif, Al-Haweiah, P.O.Box 888, Zip Code 21974, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Analytical approximation and numerical solution of the point nuclear reactor kinetics equations with
Received 21 February 2010 average one-group of delayed neutron and temperature feedback are presented. The analytical
Received in revised form approximation is based on transforming the differential equations with respect to time to differential
29 May 2010
equations with respect to reactivity and neglecting very small term. The numerical solution is based on
Accepted 10 June 2010
Taylors series method. These methods are applied to different types of initial reactivity and the results of
these methods are compared.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Point kinetics equations
Average one-group of delayed neutrons
Temperature feedback
Taylors series method

1. Introduction power that was subsequently used in a root-locus analysis.

The point reactor kinetics equations with temperature feedback
is a system of stiff nonlinear differential equations. This system
describes the neutron density representing the reactor power level,
time dependent reactivity, the average density of delayed neutron
precursors and any thermodynamics variables that enter into the
reactivity equation. So, this system can be solved to get the neutron
density, the density of delayed neutron precursors, reactivity and
temperature as function of time. The solution of these equations is
useful in providing an estimate of the transient behavior of reactor
power and other system variables of the reactor cores which are
fairly tightly coupled.
Previous attempts at nding such solutions have been restricted
mostly to the adiabatic feedback model. Chen (1990) studied
a nonlinear time dependent point power reactor problem with
delayed temperature feedback on reactivity. Dam (1996) has
analyzed the point reactor kinetics equations in combination with
linear temperature feedback for the reactivity and an adiabatic
heating of the core after loss of cooling. Damen and Kloosterman
(2001) used a simple reactor model with one delayed neutron
group and rst order fuel and temperature feedback mechanisms to
calculate the linear transfer function from reactivity to reactor
* Corresponding author. Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Tanta
University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt.
E-mail addresses: nahla@tu.edu.eg, nahla@tanta.edu.eg (A.A. Nahla),
emezayed@hotmail.com (E.M.E. Zayed).
Aboanber and Nahla (2002) have introduced a solution of the point
kinetics equations in the presence of Newtonian feedback model
using different cases of Pad approximations via analytical inver-
sion method. Aboanber and Hamada (2003) reduced the point
kinetics equations in the presence of Newtonian feedback to
a differential equation in a simple matrix form convenient for
explicitly power series solution involving no approximation beyond
the usual space-independent assumption. Aboanber (2006) has
developed a stability and efciency improved class of generalized
RungeeKutta methods for several sample problems of the stiff
system point kinetics equations with reactivity feedback. Chen et al.
(2006, 2007) presented a new analysis for the prompt supercritical
process of nuclear reactor with temperature feedback and initial
power while inserting large step reactivity (r0 > b) and small step
reactivity (r0 < b). Recently, Nahla (2009) presented an analytical
solution for the point reactor kinetics equation with one-group of
delayed neutrons and the adiabatic feedback model. This method
was based on an expansion of the neutrons density in powers of the
small parameter, the prompt neutrons generation time, into the
second order differential equation in the neutron density.
In this work, an analytical approximation and numerical solu-
tion of the point reactor kinetics equations with one-group delayed
neutrons and the adiabatic feedback model are presented and
discussed. The time, the neutron density, and the average density of
delayed neutron precursors as functions of reactivity are derived.
The relations of reactivity, neutron density and temperature with
time are calculated using a small FORTRAN program.

0149-1970/$ e see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pnucene.2010.06.001
744 A.A. Nahla, E.M.E. Zayed / Progress in Nuclear Energy 52 (2010) 743e746

2. Analytical approximation Substituting Eq. (5) into Eq. (11) and multiply both sides by
l yields
The point kinetics equations with average one-group delayed !
neutrons and with temperature feedback are a stiff nonlinear dnt r2 t  r20
laKc nt rt  b  llnt l r0  b  lln0
ordinary differential equations (Ash, 1979; Glasstone and Sesonske, dr 2aKc
1981) which is given by
(12)
dnt rt  b
nt lCt (1) The value of the part (laKc) is very small which is equal to
dt l
2.5  1010 for a pressurized-water reactor with 235U as ssile
dCt b material. So, the rst term of Eq. (12) is neglected. Then, the
nt  lCt (2) analytical approximations of the point kinetics equations with
dt l
where n(t) is the neutron density, t is the time, r(t) is the reactivity temperature feedback is written in the form
as function of time, b is the total fraction of the delayed neutrons, l !
is the prompt neutrons generation time, l is the decay constant of l r2 t  r20 r  b  lln0
nt 0 (13)
delayed neutron precursors, and C(t) is the density of delayed 2aKc rt  b  ll rt  b  ll
neutron precursors.
Let us consider the following temperature feedback (Hetrick, Substituting Eq. (13) into Eq. (9) yields
1971; Stacey, 2001) !
r2  r2 t b ll  r0 n0 l r2 t  r20
rt r0  aTt  T0  (3) Ct 0 
a
2l Kc l l a
2 Kc t  b  ll
r
dTt r0  b  lln0
Kc nt (4)  14
dt rt  b  ll
where T(t) is the temperature of the reactor, T0 is the initial
Rewrite the Eq. (3) as form
temperature of the reactor and Kc is the reciprocal of the thermal
capacity of reactor.

rt  r0
Differentiating Eq. (3) with respect to time t and substituting Tt T0  (15)
a
into Eq. (4), we have
The Eqs. (13), (14) and (15) represent the neutron density,
drt
aKc nt (5) delayed neutron precursor density and temperature as function of
dt
reactivity. Chen et al. (2007) presented the same solution by
Adding Eqs. (1) and (2) yields different method.

 Substituting Eq. (13) into Eq. (5) yields
d rt


nt Ct nt (6)
dt l drt l s2  r2 t
(16)
dt 2 rt  b  ll
and consequently, we get


 where s2 r20 2aKcn0(b ll  r0)/l
d drt rt
nt Ct nt (7) Integrating Eq. (16) yields
dr dt l

Substituting Eq. (5) into Eq. (7) yields






1 b ll s r0 b ll s  r0
t 1 ln 1 ln
d rt l s s rt s s  rt
nt Ct  (8)
dr laKc (17)

Integrating Eq. (8) and using the initial conditions n(0) n0,
br0
r(0) r0 and C0 ll
n0 , we get 14

r20  r2 t b ll  r0 n0 12
Ct nt (9)
2laKc ll
10
Neutron Density

Substituting Eq. (9) into Eq. (1) yields

8

 !

dnt rt  b  ll r2  r2 t r0  b  ll
nt l 0  n0 6
dt l 2laKc l Numerical method

(10) 4
Analytical method
and hence we have
2


 !
dnt drt rt  b  ll r20  r2 t
nt l 0
dr dt l 2laKc 0 20 40 60 80 100


r0  b  ll Time (sec)
 n0 (11)
l Fig. 1. Neutron density as function of time at r0 0.2b.
 A.A. Nahla, E.M.E. Zayed / Progress in Nuclear Energy 52 (2010) 743e746 745

35 Table 1
Reactivity, Neutron density, Precursor density and Temperature as functions of time
30 at initial reactivity 0.2b.

Numerical method Time Reactivity Neutron density Precursor density Temp.

25
(K )
Neutron Density

(s) ($) Numerical Analytical Numerical Analytical

Analytical method
20 0.0 0.2 10.0 10.0 6717.4790 6717.4790 300.0
10.0 0.158976 11.270597 11.272520 7960.6118 7960.5952 305.333
20.0 0.113885 12.094137 12.095086 8999.4785 8999.4395 311.195
15
30.0 0.066610 12.402006 12.402061 9720.1787 9720.1553 317.341
40.0 0.019115 12.220168 12.219480 10064.441 10064.386 323.515
10 50.0 0.026878 11.639050 11.637864 10034.852 10034.796 329.494
60.0 0.070057 10.777035 10.775592 9682.0400 9681.9824 335.107
5 70.0 0.109569 9.750800 9.749258 9083.3223 9083.2725 340.244
80.0 0.144980 8.658279 8.656669 8322.8486 8322.7119 344.847
0 90.0 0.176181 7.572253 7.570753 7477.1450 7477.0396 348.904
10 10 30 50 70 90 110 130 150 98.7 0.2 6.671694 6.670073 6721.2397 6720.8975 352.0
Time (sec)

Fig. 2. Neutron density as function of time at r0 0.5b.

dCtm b
ntm  lCtm (22)
The Eqs. (13), (14), (15) and (17) represent approximation dt l
solution of the point nuclear reactor kinetics equations with
temperature feedback. drtm
aKc ntm (23)
dt
3. Numerical solution The second derivatives of neutron density, delayed neutron
precursor density and reactivity are
The numerical solution of the point kinetics equations is based
on Taylors series method (Quarteroni et al., 2000) which is taken d2 ntm b dntm dCtm dntm drtm
 l rtm ntm
the following form dt 2 l dt dt dt dt
(24)
dntm h2 d2 ntm hr dr ntm
ntm1 ntm h / /
dt 2! dt 2 r! dt r
d2 Ctm b dntm dCtm
(18) l (25)
dt 2 l dt dt

dCtm h2 d2 Ctm hr dr Ctm d2 rtm dntm

Ctm1 Ctm h / / aKc (26)
dt 2! dt 2 r! dt r
dt 2 dt
(19)
The rth order derivatives of neutron density, delayed neutron
precursor density and reactivity can be written as follows:
drtm h2 d2 rtm hr dr rtm
rtm1 rtm h / /
dt 2! dt 2 r! dt r
(20) dr ntm b dr1 ntm dr1 Ctm
 l
h d ntm r1 r1 dt r l dt r1 dt r1
where h tm1  tm and the local truncation errors are r1! dt r1
hr1 d Ctm for Eq. (19), and hr1 d rtm for Eq. (20). r1

X  ri1
ntm di rtm
r1 r1
for Eq. (18), r1! r1 d
dt r1 r1! dt r1 (27)
The rst derivatives of neutron density, delayed neutron i dt ri1 dt i
i0
precursor density and reactivity are

dntm rtm  b
ntm lCtm (21) Table 2
dt l
Reactivity, Neutron density, Precursor density and Temperature as functions of time
at initial reactivity 0.5b.
90
Time Reactivity Neutron density Precursor density Temp.
80
(s) ($) Numerical Analytical Numerical Analytical (K )
70 0.0 0.5 10.0 10.0 4198.4243 4198.4243 300.0
10.0 0.446517 18.195158 18.220150 8467.9072 8467.8457 306.953
Neutron Density

60
20.0 0.359572 26.726191 26.743475 14381.679 14381.513 318.256
50 Numerical method 30.0 0.245386 31.895273 31.900589 20213.748 20213.438 333.100
Analytical method 40.0 0.120072 32.597210 32.594128 24083.318 24082.572 349.391
40 50.0 0.001244 30.103104 30.096714 25304.049 25303.197 365.162
60.0 0.109559 26.081541 26.074488 24294.025 24293.080 379.243
30
70.0 0.201433 21.698225 21.691698 21884.133 21883.129 391.186
20 80.0 0.276824 17.578548 17.572977 18841.465 18840.506 400.987
90.0 0.337342 13.988706 13.984104 15704.299 15703.389 408.854
10 100.0 0.385198 10.995258 10.991477 12785.422 12784.518 415.076
110.0 0.422648 8.567273 8.564156 10231.454 10230.533 419.944
0 120.0 0.451736 6.633668 6.631087 8084.2290 8083.2988 423.726
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
130.0 0.474206 5.113089 5.110974 6327.5962 6326.7134 426.647
Time (sec)
140.0 0.491496 3.927845 3.926055 4917.8364 4916.9409 428.895
146.1 0.5 3.339961 3.338358 4205.6318 4204.7651 430.0
Fig. 3. Neutron density as function of time at r0 0.8b.
746 A.A. Nahla, E.M.E. Zayed / Progress in Nuclear Energy 52 (2010) 743e746

Table 3 and the analytical neutron density are identical with respect
Reactivity, Neutron density, Precursor density and Temperature as functions of time to time.
at initial reactivity 0.8b.
Finally, the relation between time, reactivity, neutron density,
Time Reactivity Neutron density Precursor density Temp. density of delayed precursor and temperature using the numerical
(s) ($) Numerical Analytical Numerical Analytical (K ) and analytical methods is presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3 with initial
0.0 0.8 10.0 10.0 1679.3699 1679.3699 300.0 reactivity r0 0.2b, 0.5b and 0.8b respectively. It is found that the
10.0 0.666886 64.557487 64.796516 18124.689 18124.279 317.305 difference between the numerical results and the analytical results
20.0 0.363852 83.320236 83.306366 44500.184 44499.250 356.699 is small, <103.
30.0 0.064528 70.490250 70.460770 55348.738 55347.066 395.611
40.0 0.174378 53.917503 53.894737 53148.172 53146.020 426.669
50.0 0.353502 39.760925 39.744484 45172.699 45170.207 449.955 5. Conclusions
60.0 0.484405 28.824406 28.812449 35915.492 35912.777 466.973
70.0 0.578847 20.703527 20.694773 27438.424 27435.770 479.250 The numerical and analytical solutions for point reactor kinetics
80.0 0.646493 14.789428 14.782654 20440.443 20437.545 488.044
equations with one-group of delayed neutrons and in presence of
90.0 0.694731 10.528523 10.523077 14977.864 14974.769 494.315
100.0 0.729028 7.478508 7.474450 10854.269 10851.699 498.774 temperature feedback have been derived. The analytical approxi-
110.0 0.753380 5.304107 5.300168 7806.8105 7803.3750 501.939 mation is based on transforming the differential equations with
120.0 0.770631 3.758143 3.755396 5585.8281 5583.4233 504.182 respect to time to differential equations with respect to reactivity
130.0 0.782857 2.660907 2.658293 3982.2925 3979.5730 505.771 and very small neglected term, (laKc) which equals 2.5  1010 for
140.0 0.791503 1.883123 1.881395 2831.9358 2830.1851 506.895
a pressurized-water reactor with 235U as ssile material. The
150.0 0.797624 1.332234 1.330822 2010.3282 2008.7988 507.691
155.0 0.8 1.116575 1.115720 1687.1426 1687.1426 508.002 numerical solution is based on Taylors series method. The
numerical and analytical results of the supercritical process in
a pressurized-water reactor with 235U as ssile material are drawn
and tabulated. It is found that the neutron density, density of
dr Ctm b dr1 ntm dr1 Ctm
r
r1
l (28) delayed precursor and temperature using numerical method and
dt l dt dt r1 analytical method are identical.

dr rtm dr1 ntm Acknowledgements

aKc (29)
dt r dt r1
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Taif University for the
Substituting Eqs. (21) / (29) into Eqs. (18) / (20) yields the nancial support (Project No: 1-430-325).
numerical solution of the point nuclear reactor kinetics equations
with temperature feedback. References

4. Results and discussions
Consider the prompt supercritical process in a pressurized-
water reactor with 235U as ssile material. It is assumed that
b 0.0065, l 0.0001 s, l 0.07741 s1, Kc 0.05 K/MW s,
a 5  105 K1. The supercritical process will take place when
three initial reactivities are inserted into the reactor. This reactor is
operating in critical state with initial power n0 10.0 MW. The
comparison between the numerical and the analytical neutron
density under the above conditions is shown in Figs. 1e3.
The relation between the neutron density n(t) and time t at
the initial reactivity r0 0.2b, 0.5b and 0.8b is drawn in Figs. 1, 2
and 3 respectively. It is found that the numerical neutron density
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