AN OPTIMALITY CONDITION FOR THE ASSEMBLY DISTRIBUTION IN A NUCLEAR REACTOR

Abstract

This paper presents an optimality condition for the optimization problem of the assembly distribution in a nuclear reactor, by using the homogenization method. In this paper the reactivity of the reactor core is measured by the critical eigenvalue for both continuous and multigroup neutron transport models. In particular, we extend the spectral theory of the critical eigenvalue and prove the differentiability of the latter with respect to the design parameter, the configuration of the fuels.