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Methods in Accelerator-Driven System Dynamics
In recent years subcritical multiplying structures driven by an
external neutron source have been proposed for long-lived product
transmutation and for safe and acceptable energy production. The study
of the dynamics of these systems needs the adaptation of current
methods in order to properly reproduce the peculiar features of
source-driven systems.The seminar addresses the recent activities
carried out by the Reactor Physics Group of Politecnico di Torino on
the neutron kinetics of source-driven systems. The basic physical
aspects of the time-dependent behavior of subcritical systems and
their consequences on the computational methods are illustrated. The
importance of transport effects on the dynamic response of a
subcritical system to an external source is addressed. Recent works on
the adaptation of the quasi-static technique is presented. The problem
of the choice of the weighting function and its influence on the
effectiveness of quasi static schemes is highlighted. Furthermore, the
principles of the multipoint scheme and the possibility of its
inclusion into a quasi-static framework are discussed. Some numerical
results show the advantages of the technique when dealing with highly
decoupled systems.
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