Recent content by df001

Masses of Be and U \begin{align*}& M_{Be}=\mu_{Be}V_{Be}=1.85\left. \frac{tonnes}{m^3}\left. \times 77.65\left.m^{3}=143.65\left. tonnes \\& M_{U}=\mu_{U}V_{U}=19.05\left. \frac{tonnes}{m^3} \times \times 2.91\left.m^{3}=55.44\left. tonnes \\ &1 \left. tonne = 1000 \left. kg \end{align*}...

I've redone much of my reasoning of the density change impact on neutron multiplication and critical mass. As much as it would be nice otherwise, changing polyethylene for water don't change the infinite neutron multiplication factor because although the migration area diminishes, the...

Maybe the question posed here is not supposed to encompass all the engineering considerations of a nuclear reactor, but only the nuclear physics aspects, at least for now. As you said yourself, all these considerations take a large amount of planning and analysis. About the polyethylene, of...

Thank you Astronuc. I understand what you say and I don't want the answer right away, I just wanted someone to show some curiosity about the question, maybe some points about the answer. You are right, it is something to think about. About the toxicity, what I read about is that beryllium is...

Why isn't anyone contributing? Uninteresting or don't have the knowledge?

Given \begin{align*}&M^{2}=582\left.cm^{2}\rightarrow M=24.12\left.cm \\&k=1.08 \end{align*} Radius solves as: \begin{align*}&R_{crit}\cong\frac{\pi M}{\sqrt{k-1}}=\frac{3.14\times 24.12\left.cm}{\sqrt{1.08-1}}=\frac{75.77}{\sqrt{0.08}}\left.cm=\frac{75.77}{0.2828}\left.cm=267.92\left.cm...

I wanted to know what is the minimum critical mass of natural uranium (99.28% U-238) when moderated by beryllium and light water, when in a optimumally designed lattice. As can be seen in this article (google Plutonium Production Using Natural Uranium) criticality is attained at about 10 tons of...