Burst Wait-Times in the Caliban Reactor Using the Gamma Probability Distribution Function

The experimental and theoretical results of Authier et al. on the fast burst reactor Caliban have been re-analysed using the Gamma probability distribution function (pdf). The Gamma pdf requires only the mean and variance of the accumulated counts to fully define it. Equations for the mean value and variance of the neutron, precursor and count rate distributions have been developed and solved via the forward form of the probability generating function. We have found excellent agreement, to within experimental error, with the experimental results for the wait time and its variance. In addition, the values of the cumulative pdf obtained via the Gamma pdf are in good agreement with those reported by Authier et al. who used more accurate methods.