Approximate Solution to the Kolmogorov Equation for a Fission Chain-Reacting System

An approximate solution has been obtained for the Kolmogorov equation describing a fission chain-reacting system. The method considers the population of neutrons, delayed-neutron precursors, and detector counts. The effect of the detector is separated from the statistics of the chain reaction by a weak coupling assumption that predicts that the detector responds to the average rather than to the instantaneous neutron population. An approximate solution to the remaining equation, involving the populations of neutrons and precursors, predicts a negative-binomial behavior for the neutron probability distribution.