Method of quantum characteristics

The six-factor formula is used in nuclear engineering to determine the multiplication of a nuclear chain reaction in a non-infinite medium. The formula is

$k=\eta fp\epsilon P_{FNL}P_{TNL}$

Symbol	Name	Meaning	Formula	Typical Thermal Reactor Value
$\eta$	Thermal Fission Factor (Eta)	The number of fission neutrons produced per absorption in the fuel.	$\eta ={\frac {\nu \sigma _{f}^{F}}{\sigma _{a}^{F}}}$	1.65
$f$	The thermal utilization factor	Probability that a neutron that gets absorbed does so in the fuel material.	$f={\frac {\Sigma _{a}^{F}}{\Sigma _{a}}}$	0.71
$p$	The resonance escape probability	Fraction of fission neutrons that manage to slow down from fission to thermal energies without being absorbed.	$p\approx \mathrm {exp} \left(-{\frac {\sum \limits _{i=1}^{N}N_{i}I_{r,A,i}}{\left({\overline {\xi }}\Sigma _{p}\right)_{mod}}}\right)$	0.87
$\epsilon$	The fast fission factor (Epsilon)	${\tfrac {\mbox{total number of fission neutrons}}{\mbox{number of fission neutrons from just thermal fissions}}}$	$\epsilon \approx 1+{\frac {1-p}{p}}{\frac {u_{f}\nu _{f}P_{FAF}}{f\nu _{t}P_{TAF}P_{TNL}}}$	1.02
$P_{FNL}$	The fast non-leakage probability	The probability that a fast neutron will not leak out of the system.	$P_{FNL}\approx \mathrm {exp} \left(-{B_{g}}^{2}\tau _{th}\right)$	0.97
$P_{TNL}$	The thermal non-leakage probability	The probability that a thermal neutron will not leak out of the system.	$P_{TNL}\approx {\frac {1}{1+{L_{th}}^{2}{B_{g}}^{2}}}$	0.99

The symbols are defined as:

• $\nu$, $\nu _{f}$ and $\nu _{t}$ are the average number of neutrons produced per fission in the medium (2.43 for Uranium-235).
• $\sigma _{f}^{F}$ and $\sigma _{a}^{F}$ are the microscopic fission and absorption cross sections for fuel, respectively.
• $\Sigma _{a}^{F}$ and $\Sigma _{a}$ are the macroscopic absorption cross sections in fuel and in total, respectively.
• $N_{i}$ is the number density of atoms of a specific nuclide.
• $I_{r,A,i}$ is the resonance integral for absorption of a specific nuclide.
  • $I_{r,A,i}=\int _{E_{th}}^{E_{0}}dE'{\frac {\Sigma _{p}^{mod}}{\Sigma _{t}(E')}}{\frac {\sigma _{a}^{i}(E')}{E'}}$.
• ${\overline {\xi }}$ (often referred to as worm-bar or squigma-bar) is the average lethargy gain per scattering event.
  • Lethargy is defined as decrease in neutron energy.
• $u_{f}$ (fast utilization) is the probability that a fast neutron is absorbed in fuel.
• $P_{FAF}$ is the probability that a fast neutron absorption in fuel causes fission.
• $P_{TAF}$ is the probability that a thermal neutron absorption in fuel causes fission.
• ${B_{g}}^{2}$ is the geometric buckling.
• ${L_{th}}^{2}$ is the diffusion length of thermal neutrons.
  • ${L_{th}}^{2}={\frac {D}{\Sigma _{a,th}}}$.
• $\tau _{th}$ is the age to thermal.
  • $\tau =\int _{E_{th}}^{E'}dE''{\frac {1}{E''}}{\frac {D(E'')}{{\overline {\xi }}\left[D(E''){B_{g}}^{2}+\Sigma _{t}(E')\right]}}$.
  • $\tau _{th}$ is the evaluation of $\tau$ where $E'$ is the energy of the neutron at birth.

Multiplication

The multiplication factor, k, is defined as (see Nuclear chain reaction):

$k={\frac {\mbox{number of neutrons in one generation}}{\mbox{number of neutrons in preceding generation}}}$

If k is greater than 1, the chain reaction is supercritical, and the neutron population will grow exponentially.
If k is less than 1, the chain reaction is subcritical, and the neutron population will exponentially decay.
If k = 1, the chain reaction is critical and the neutron population will remain constant.

See also

• Critical mass
• Nuclear chain reaction
• Nuclear reactor
• Four factor formula

References

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