THE MARKOV-CHAIN METHOD FOR SOLVING DEAD-TIME PROBLEMS IN THE SPACE-DEPENDENT MODEL OF REACTOR NOISE

The discrete time Markov chain approach for deriving the statistics of time-correlated pulses, in the presence of a non-extending dead time, is extended to include the effect of space energy distribution of the neutron field. Equations for the singlet and doublet densities of fol lower neutrons are derived by neglecting correlations beyond the secon d order. These equations are solved by the modal method. It is shown t hat in the unimodal approximation, the equations reduce to the point m odel equations with suitably defined parameters. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd.