Kinetic Parameters of the University of Maryland Reactor by the Interval-Distribution Method

The Rossi alpha of the University of Maryland Reactor was measured at criticality and at shutdown by the Babala interval-distribution method. At criticality, α_c = 145.8 ± 2.9 s⁻¹. At shutdown, α_s = 1025.8 ± 4.1 s⁻¹. The shutdown reactivity was found to be ρ_s/β = −6.04 ± 0.14 dollars. An inverse kinetics analysis of a rod-drop experiment gave ρ_s/β = −6.23 ± 0.13 dollars, which is consistent with the interval-distribution result.