Ehud Meron

The relations between xenon-induced spatial oscillations and the size of a reactor core are analyzed. The study is based on linear stability analysis of steady-state solutions to small perturbations in time and space. We show that there exists a minimal core size in which spatial perturbations may rise. Moreover, this minimal size depends strongly on the reactor power, as well as on the neutron diffusion length, but is not sensitive to changes in the power feedback coefficient. The dependence of the minimal size on the reactor power is found to be separated into high and low flux ranges. The results may be used to analyze the susceptibility of large next-generation nuclear reactors to xenon instability.