Numerical evaluation of the production of radionuclides in a nuclear reactor (Part I).

Numerical evaluation of nuclear transmutations is essential for optimization of radionuclide production. Accordingly, we have developed a generalized computer program called LAURA for predicting the production rates of radionuclides in a nuclear reactor. The program is generalized in the sense that it can be used for calculation of the production rate of any member of a network undergoing spontaneous decay and/or induced neutron transformation in a nuclear reactor. In this paper (Part I), we describe the mathematical basis for the development of LAURA. Expressions based on the Rubinson (1949) approach have been used for the evaluation of the depletion functions. This method is also valid when some of the depletion constants have identical values; thus, the approximate solution of Raykin and Shlyakhter (1989) can be used to account for the effects of feedback due to alpha decay.