Review and Research of the Neutron Source Multiplication Method in Nuclear Critical Safety

The paper first briefly reviews the neutron source multiplication method and then presents an experimental study that shows that the parameter measured by the neutron source multiplication method actually is a subcritical effective neutron multiplication factor ks with an external neutron source, not the effective neutron multiplication factor keff. The parameters ks and keff have been researched for a nuclear critical safety experiment assembly using a uranium solution. The parameter ks was measured by the source multiplication method, while the parameter keff was measured by the power-raising period method. The relationship between keff and ks is discussed and their effects on nuclear safety are mentioned.