Book Reviews

N u c l e a r R e a c t o r A n a l y s i s . By J a m e s J . D u d e r s t a d t and
L o u i s J . H a m i l t o n . John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York
(1976). 650 pp. $23.95.
T h e t e a c h i n g of r e a c t o r p h y s i c s o r r e a c t o r a n a l y s i s i s
n o t p a r t i c u l a r l y e a s y . Some d e c a d e s a g o , when we had One
Textbook and no P r o f e s s o r s , we had no p r o b l e m s . My
e x p e r i e n c e w a s t y p i c a l . I w a s h i r e d , not knowing buckling
f r o m i n h o u r . I found m y o f f i c e , s h a r p e n e d a p e n c i l , and
began to g a z e d r e a m i l y into the m i d d l e d i s t a n c e when J a c k
C h e r n i c k a p p e a r e d . He handed m e a book. " R e a d i t , " he
s a i d . Two w e e k s l a t e r , I handed it b a c k . " I ' v e r e a d i t . "
" O K , " he said, " n o w you a r e a n u c l e a r e n g i n e e r . " T h e
book w a s G l a s s t o n e and E d l u n d ' s , and that w a s t r a i n i n g in
the 1950's.
Nowadays m a t t e r s a r e m o r e c o m p l e x . We have P S A R s ,
i n t e r v e n o r s , the O P E C , and b a t t a l i o n s of young e n g i n e e r s
who should be taught s o m e t h i n g about n u c l e a r e n e r g y . But,
how m u c h , and how? In p a r t i c u l a r , how should r e a c t o r
p h y s i c s be t a u g h t ? T h e r e a r e s e v e r a l p o s s i b i l i t i e s . I h a v e
t r i e d the t r a d i t i o n a l " p h y s i c a l " a p p r o a c h , beginning with
t h e p h y s i c s of f i s s i o n , t h e notion of a chain r e a c t i o n . T h e n ,
on to t h e d i f f u s i o n of n e u t r o n s , in s p a c e and e n e r g y . . . . I
have t r i e d the f o r m a l a p p r o a c h , beginning with the L i o u v i l l e equation and the heavy a p p a r a t u s of s t a t i s t i c a l m e c h a n i c s . And, r e c e n t l y , 1 e s s a y e d t h e r e l e v a n t a p p r o a c h ,
c a j o l i n g a colleague to begin t h e c o u r s e with f i e r y l e c t u r e s
on " E n e r g y N e e d s , " " P r o j e c t I n d e p e n d e n c e , " and " T h e
T w e n t y - F i r s t C e n t u r y , W h e r e Will We B e ? " No m a t t e r ,
t h e r e s u l t i s a l w a y s the s a m e . Midway through the c o u r s e ,
u s u a l l y when we a r e slogging t h r o u g h two-group, two-region
c r i t i c a l i t y , e y e l i d s begin to d r o o p and b r e a t h i n g b e c o m e s
s l o w and e a s y . L e t u s f a c e it, l a d i e s and g e n t l e m e n , r e a c t o r p h y s i c s i s not a n e x c i t i n g s u b j e c t . We need a l l t h e help
we can g e t . (The advanced c o u r s e i s no b e t t e r . One
s t u d e n t of m i n e opted f o r flight duty in V i e t n a m r a t h e r than
e n d u r e a s e t of l e c t u r e s on W i e n e r - H o p f d e c o m p o s i t i o n and
t h e Milne P r o b l e m . He s u r v i v e d c o m b a t , and his w i s e
c h o i c e h a s , I hope, b e e n r e w a r d e d by high p o s i t i o n in t h e
military-industrial complex.)
D u d e r s t a d t and H a m i l t o n ' s Nuclear
Reactor
Analysis
d o e s help. It i s a big, b e a u t i f u l book, h a n d s o m e l y p r o d u c e d ,
a v e r i t a b l e c o f f e e - t a b l e v o l u m e , 10^ x 7 j x l | in. It h a s
15 c h a p t e r s and c o n t a i n s 650 p a g e s , c o u n t l e s s h a n d s o m e
t a b l e s and f i g u r e s , and 352 e x e r c i s e s f o r the s t u d e n t . It i s
w r i t t e n in a lucid, r e l a x e d , a l m o s t chatty s t y l e . T h e r e i s
an o c c a s i o n a l l a p s e ("Hence a c a p a b i l i t y i s r e q u i r e d . . . . " )
t h a t m a y be laid to the p r o b l e m of joint a u t h o r s h i p . The
book has been w r i t t e n , t h e a u t h o r s s a y , f o r the " m o d e r n
n u c l e a r e n g i n e e r i n g s t u d e n t . " T h u s , t h e r e is c o n s i d e r a b l e
e m p h a s i s on n u m e r i c a l m e t h o d s and on the n o n - n u c l e a r
a s p e c t s of c o r e d e s i g n . One f i n d s the t r a d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l
a u g m e n t e d by s e c t i o n s on t h e r m a l - h y d r a u l i c a n a l y s i s and
fuel management.
(The m o d e r n n u c l e a r e n g i n e e r can
i d e n t i f y " y e l l o w - c a k e " and the D i t t u s - B o e l t e r c o r r e l a t i o n ,
a s well a s " h a l f - r a n g e c o m p l e t e n e s s . " ) One u n f o r t u n a t e

a r c h a i s m that p l a g u e s u s s t i l l i s r e f e r e n c e to c o m p a n y
r e p o r t s (GEAP-4598, WAPD-TM-22) for important work.
One would hope that v a l u a b l e m a t e r i a l , a dozen y e a r s old,
would be e s t a b l i s h e d in t h e open l i t e r a t u r e by now.
T h e conventional m a t e r i a l i s t r e a t e d in t h e t r a d i t i o n a l ,
" p h y s i c a l , " m a n n e r , the t r a n s p o r t equation being i n t r o duced f i r s t and d i f f u s i o n t h e o r y d e d u c e d f r o m it. Diffusion
t h e o r y f o r m o n o e n e r g e t i c n e u t r o n s and the equations of
point k i n e t i c s a r e u s e d to develop an u n d e r s t a n d i n g of how
r e a c t o r s w o r k . In a l a t e r s e c t i o n , the m u l t i g r o u p d i f f u s i o n
t h e o r y i s d e v e l o p e d , and slowing down t h e o r y and t h e r m a l i zation appear, subsumed under " F a s t (Thermal) Spectrum
C a l c u l a t i o n s and F a s t ( T h e r m a l ) G r o u p C o n s t a n t s , " p e r h a p s a s they should be in m o d e r n r e a c t o r a n a l y s i s ! A
c h a p t e r on cell c a l c u l a t i o n s in l a t t i c e s - w i t h a good s e c t i o n
on e s c a p e p r o b a b i l i t i e s c o m p l e t e s the d i s c u s s i o n of n e u t r o n p h y s i c s . T h e l a s t s e c t i o n of t h e book i s devoted to t h e
n o n - n e u t r o n i c t o p i c s I alluded to e a r l i e r . While t h e r e is
not much that one can do about t h e choice of t o p i c s in s u c h
a t e x t , the b a l a n c e of n u m e r i c a l and a n a l y t i c a l t e c h n i q u e s
in t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n g i v e s t h i s book i t s d i s t i n c t i o n . I found
t h i s f e a t u r e to b e m o s t a t t r a c t i v e .
No book a t t e m p t i n g to c o v e r s o wide a f i e l d is f r e e of
e r r o r or s u p e r f i c i a l i t y . I w i s h t h e r e w e r e a f u l l e r d i s c u s sion of d e c a y h e a t . T h e f a m o u s t'1,2
f o r m u l a d o e s not
a p p e a r . I wish the d i s c u s s i o n of collision k i n e t i c s w a s
m o r e u p - t o - d a t e . T h e r e i s no r e a s o n to o m i t n u c l e a r
i n e l a s t i c s c a t t e r i n g , e s p e c i a l l y a s the day of the f a s t
breeder approaches.
F u r t h e r m o r e , the a u t h o r s s t r o n g l y
s u g g e s t that a n i s o t r o p i c CM s c a t t e r i n g is of little i m p o r t a n c e in light n u c l e i (but s e e B N L - 4 0 0 ) . But t h e s e t r i f l e s
should not o b s c u r e the m a i n point t h a t t h i s i s an a t t r a c t i v e ,
r i c h , w i d e - r a n g i n g text that is a p l e a s u r e to r e a d . It i s , by
t h e way, the s e c o n d , not the f i r s t e d i t i o n . T h e f i r s t ,
which will s u r e l y be a c o l l e c t o r ' s i t e m , w a s i l l u s t r a t e d by
d r a w i n g s b a s e d on the m o v i e " F r i t z the C a t . " T h e s e ,
a l a s , a r e a b s e n t f r o m t h e v o l u m e s e n t m e by John Wiley
and Sons. I m a g i n e ! An X - r a t e d text on r e a c t o r a n a l y s i s (What hidden m e a n i n g s now f o r buckling, i n h o u r ,
and . . . e x t r a p o l a t i o n l e n g t h ! ) . T e a c h e r n e e d n e v e r a s k
f o r help a g a i n .
Noel

Corngold

California Institute of Technology

Thomas Laboratory
Pasadena, California 91125
September 23, 1976
About
the Reviewer:
Noel
Corngold,
professor
of
applied physics
at the California
Institute
of
Technology,
returns
to these columns
with this refreshing
review of a
new text.
Dr. Corngold completed
his graduate studies
at
Harvard
University
and was at the Brookhaven
National
Laboratory
for many years.
His recent research
interests
have been in reactor physics, particularly
in the theory of
neutron scattering
and
transport.