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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
P. Wälti
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 36 | Number 2 | May 1969 | Pages 133-142
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE69-A19713
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The mathematical model of age-dependent branching processes is used to describe neutron slowing down and multiplication in an infinite medium. To construct the probability measure of the neutron branching process, it is necessary to determine the probability density for a neutron of age θ(=time elapsed since birth of the fission neutron) to have energy E. This problem, which is equivalent to the time-dependent slowing down problem, is solved for a scattering law of the form v(E)Σs(E → E′)dE′ = aEµh(E′/E) (dE′/E) and an absorption cross section satisfying the relation v(E) Σa(E) = bEµ + c. In this case, it is proved that there always exist particular “invariant” probability densities suffering only contraction during ageing, i.e., having the form . For the time-dependent slowing down problem with a Greuling-Goertzel kernel, the results are compared with those of Koppel. Particular attention is paid to stationary energy spectra.