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Nonlinear Nuclear Stochastic Theory

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Advances in Nuclear Science and Technology

Part of the book series: Advances in Nuclear Science and Technology ((ANST,volume 15))

Abstract

Linear aspects of nuclear stochastic phenomena have been widely observed and utilized, either for identification or diagnosis of nuclear power plant systems. At zero-power state, the neutron branching (fission) process plays a critical role and reveals the non-Poissonian nature of neutron or high-energy photon statistics, which now are firmly formulated under the sound premise that the fluctuations belong to the linear, first-order Markovian stochastic process. Nuclear reactors operated at a rated power level naturally involve diversified noise sources originating from thermodynamical, hydraulic or structural rather than nuclear effects. The atpower reactor noise is intrinsically a nonlinear, stochastic phenomenon, though it has been, more or less, successfully analyzed in a linearized framework.

No stochastic phenomenon displaying nonlinearity is easily amenable to analysis and careful examination will be required to determine whether or not nonlinearity really is exerting any effect upon the experimental/theoretical reconciliation stage of analyzing the phenomena.

The present article critically reviews:

  1. 1.

    What “nonlinear” physical effects are bringing forth stochastic phenomena in nuclear reactors.

  2. 2.

    How “nonlinear” operation in the course of measurement and system identification affects intrinsic physical structures and reveals novel properties.

  3. 3.

    How and when the “nonlinear” aspects are theoretically treated.

  4. 4.

    What reasoning is applied to the characterization of “nonlinear” nuclear stochastics and how we make them theoretically tractable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Materials Science, University of Tsukuba, Sakura-Mura, Ibaraki-Ken, Japan

    K. Saito

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  1. K. Saito
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge University, Cambridge, England

    Jeffery Lewins

  2. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA

    Martin Becker

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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York

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Saito, K. (1983). Nonlinear Nuclear Stochastic Theory. In: Lewins, J., Becker, M. (eds) Advances in Nuclear Science and Technology. Advances in Nuclear Science and Technology, vol 15. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3757-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3757-7_3

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