Possibility, Admissibility, and Desirability of Implementing Pulsed Stochastic Regimes in Reactors with Gaseous Nuclear Fuel

Abstract

Schemes are proposed for reactors with stationary gaseous fuel and the conditions under which new self-excited oscillatory regimes can be obtained in such reactors are determined. For the schemes proposed for block reactors there is no limit on size and power. An example of a reactor with 200-m core is examined. It is indicated that the fuel oscillations accompanying the neutron pulses can be used to convert nuclear energy directly into mechanical energy or electricity. It is shown that the amplitude of the oscillations can be regulated by changing the intensity of heat removal or by changing the friction in individual sections of the reactor in a manner so that the amplitude does not exceed the admissable limits. The results are obtained by studying distributed models of the reactor numerically.