Review and Research of the Neutron Source Multiplication Method in Nuclear Critical Safety

The paper first briefly reviews the neutron source multiplication method and then presents an experimental study that shows that the parameter measured by the neutron source multiplication method actually is a subcritical effective neutron multiplication factor k_s with an external neutron source, not the effective neutron multiplication factor k_eff. The parameters k_s and k_eff have been researched for a nuclear critical safety experiment assembly using a uranium solution. The parameter k_s was measured by the source multiplication method, while the parameter k_eff was measured by the power-raising period method. The relationship between k_eff and k_s is discussed and their effects on nuclear safety are mentioned.