NuclearReactor - more new features!

Fission Counter

The fission counter located directly below the neutron detector displays the total number of fissions that took place until the given moment. This is proportional (of course only in a qualitative sense...) to the total energy produced by te reactor.

Run the reactor once with and another time without reflector and you can see how the reflector helps to get more energy from your fuel!

Digital Rontrol Rod Position Display

On the right side of the buttons for moving the control rods there is now a digital control rod position displayed. The number ranges from 0 % (control rods down) to 100 % (control rods up). This display helps orientating.

Neutron Density Distributions

In the right top corner of the main window there are two new buttons for the display of Neutron Density Distributions: "Vertical" and "Horizontal". When you click there, after a couple of seconds you'll get a new window with the instantaneous neutron density distributions. The red curve showns the distribution of the fast neutrons, the black curve that one of the thermal neutrons.

A secondclick on the button brings new distributions up, while the old ones remain in a faint color. This allows you to compare the distributions found at two instants. Use this feature, for example, to study the influence of the reflector or the distortion of the vertical distributions by the control rods!

Burnup

Activate the option "Burnup" before starting the reactor. The program will simulate the expiring of the fuel and the accumulation of fission products. After a while, the chain reaction will stop - this will happen much earlier than on a real reactor, since the simulation is just a qualitative one! Try to keep the reactor running by extracting the control rods. You'll see that this has its limits.

Dialog Box Safety Circuit

You produce a SCRAM (safety shut-down) - why? This box tells you the reason!