A Temperature Formulation of the Space-Averaged Reactor Kinetics Equations

Techniques are described for the solution of the space-averaged kinetics equations directly in terms of temperature. A good agreement with single and repetitive pulse experimental data from a TRIGA reactor is demonstrated. The results of the method agree not only with the symmetric portion of the pulse but also with the pulse tail. The required feedback and neutron parameters are determined by conventional techniques; however, the heat-transfer decay constant is normalized to experimental data through measurement of the time-dependent reactivity via a double-pulse method.