ABSTRACT
From the time that a neutron chain reaction was first envisioned to its experimental verification with the CP-1 critical pile in 1942 to the advanced reactor designs of today, the principal measure of the propensity for a system to sustain a neutron chain reaction has been the k-effective eigenvalue. In this section, we review the mathematical and physical background of criticality that both reactor physics and criticality safety have in common. This will involve several steps:
A discussion of the physical parameters of fission—the cross sections, energy deposition, and other physical properties
A review of the basic equation that governs the transport of neutrons in energy, space, direction, and time
A discussion of the k-effective eigenvalue, looking at both the physical background and the mathematical solution of the Boltzmann equation
A discussion of the primary methods of solving this equation
