Massimo L. Physics of high-temperature reactors

Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, 1976. – 236 pp.The physics of the high-temperature reactor is of special interest and significance because of its versatility with regard to fuel cycles. Coated particle fuels can use any of the fissile materials and either uranium-238 or thorium as fertile material. According to the level of fissile enrichment of the fuel kernels, the size and volume loading of the coated particles, the ratios of carbon to fissile and fertile atoms and the degree of heterogeneity of the core are variable to an extent that is impossible in other reactors. Absence of metal cladding greatly improves the neutron economy in comparison with other types of reactor, a factor which helps in the achievement of high conversion ratios. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated beyond all doubt that coated particle fuel can sustain a degree of burn-up which is quite unmatched in any other reactor system.
This book is concerned with the physics aspects of the high-temperature reactor, a subject on which there has so far been the lack of a systematic and comprehensive text despite the very considerable volume of reports that have been written on the various aspects of the subject.