NE581 Reactor Shielding

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Instructor:       Ronald E. Pevey, Ph.D., P.E., M.B.A.

Office:             213 Pasqua Engineering Building

Office Hours:   By appointment.

Telephone:       974-7573

Course Description:  This course covers the principal methods in used for deterministically solving the Boltzmann transport equation for neutral particles (neutrons and photons).  The prime application is radiation shielding problems, with only passing reference to the treatment of fission processes.  The principal emphasis will be on giving students a grounding in the numerical techniques that have shown themselves useful in solving the neutral partical transport equation and in applications of modern methods to shielding situations.

Required Text: Lewis, E.E., and Miller, W.F., Jr.; Computational Methods of Neutron Transport,  American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL, 1993.

Course Objectives:  By taking this course, the student should gain a basic understanding of: 

• The derivation of the Boltzmann transport equation in its various forms.
• Legendre scattering treatment
• Numerical treatments of space, energy, and direction dimensions
• Derivation and use of the adjoint Boltzmann Equation
• The principal deterministic techniques in use to solve the Boltzmann Equation:
1D Discrete Ordinates
Multidimensional Discrete Ordinates
Integral transport theory

• MidTerm Test         30% 
• Final exam              30% 
• Homework             30%
• Class participation   10%

Class preparation: To prepare for each class, you should: 

• Do the homework for the day.  It is due at the beginning of the class following its listing in the syllabus and will be based on previous lectures.
• Read the class reading assignment from the syllabus
• Download and review the slides for the upcoming class.
• Review your notes from previous classes.

Return to Course Outline                                                               © 2005 by Ronald E. Pevey.  All rights reserved.