NEM325

HW II
Due Date: November 5, 2019

1. The yields of nuclear weapons are measured in kilotons (KT), where.

1KT  2.6 1025 MeV with this in mind,
(a) How much 235U is fissioned when a 100-KT bomb is exploded?

2. Suppose that a fission neutron having energy of 1 MeV slows down to 1 eV as a result of
successive collisions in a moderator. If on the average the neutron gain in lethargy for
hydrogen is 1 and for carbon is 0.158 in each collision, how many collisions are required
if the moderator is a mixture of hydrogen and graphite with NH=2.1021 atoms/cm3, NC=1021
atoms/cm3 and σsH =1 barn, σsC =5 barn.

3. A 5.0-cm-thick layer of purely absorbing target is composed of two regions. Region I has
a thickness of 2 cm and composed of material A with a number density of 4.0x1022
nuclei/cm3. Region II has a thickness of 3 cm and composed of same material as region I
but a number density of material is 2.0x1022 nuclei/cm3. The microscopic cross section of
material A is 5 barn. a) Determine macroscopic cross sections for each region. b)
Determine the probability that a neutron incident on a target from left (from region I) will
be absorbed in region II. c) Determine the probability that a neutron incident on a target
from right (from region II) will be absorbed in region II.

4. If a reactor has a thermal power of 3800 MW and an expected fuel burnup of 30,000 MW-
d/ton, assuming that all energy produced by fission of plutonium-239, how much 239Pu is
consumed?

5. Consider a PWR UO2 pellet 0.81 cm in diameter, 1.0 cm in height, and 10.4 g/cm in density
in which the uranium is enriched to 3.3 wt. % 235U. Answer the following questions.
(a) Calculate the atomic number densities of 235U, 238U, and O in the pellet.UO2 contains
only 235U, 238U, and O. Their atomic masses are M(235U)235.04, M( 238U) 238.05, and M(O)
16.0, and Avogadro’s number is 0.6022 x 1024 .
(b) One-group microscopic cross sections of 235U, 238U, and O are given in the
following table.
Nuclide Absorption σ a (barn) Fission σ f (barn)
235
U 50 41
238
U 1 0.10
O 0.0025 0.0
(1 barn = 10 -24 cm 2 )
Compute the macroscopic absorption and fission cross sections of the pellet. What is the
probability that a neutron will cause a fission on being absorbed into the pellet?