Directed percolation in nuclear safety

TL;DR

This paper models neutron behavior in nuclear reactors with directed percolation to identify hazardous events that traditional safety systems might miss.

Contribution

It introduces a directed percolation model for neutron behavior that can detect safety hazards in nuclear reactors more effectively.

Findings

The model can identify hazardous neutron flux events.

It predicts reactor safety issues undetectable by traditional systems.

The approach links neutron dynamics to percolation theory.

Abstract

Neutron behavior in a nuclear reactor is described using a directed percolation model. The preferred direction is created by generations of neutrons oriented in time. Using the example of the time it takes for a dangerous neutron flux or reactor power limit to be reached, it is shown that in certain situations, the proposed approach can identify events hazardous to reactor safety that are undetectable by traditional reactor safety systems.