SLOWKIN: a simplified model for the simulation of reactor transients in SLOWPOKE-2

This paper will describe the model used to analyse reactor transients in the SLOWPOKE-2 reactor at Polytechnique. The model is intended to simulate reactor transients which will be induced by control rod displacements during commissioning of the new LEU core to be installed in the SLOWPOKE-2 reactor in 1997, in replacement of the original HEU core. A simplified treatment is justified since our objective is mainly to provide a physical interpretation for any difference observed in the transient behaviour of the new core, as opposed to the current HEU core. The SLOWKIN model used point kinetics to predict neutron power with time. The reactor physics codes DRAGON/DONJON were used to provide some reactor physics insight on the strong neutronic/thermalhydraulic coupling in the reactor and to generate the necessary reactivity coefficients to be used in SLOWKIN. (DM)