Thermo-Hydraulics of Nuclear Reactors

This book provides a concise and up-to-date summary of the essential thermo-hydraulic analyses and design principles of nuclear reactors for electricity generation. Beginning with the basic nuclear physics, it leads through technical and quantitative analyses to descriptions of both the normal operation of the various modern nuclear reactor designs and the analyses of the possible departures from normal operation. It then describes both the postulated accident scenarios and summaries of the causes for the three major nuclear power generation accidents, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, as well as the major improvements to reactor safety that grew out of those analyses and accidents.

1. Introduction; 2. Basic nuclear power generation; 3. CORE neutronics; 4. Some reactor designs; 5. Core heat transfer; 6. Multiphase flow; 7. Reactor multiphase flows and accidents.

Professor Christopher Earls Brennen was a member of the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at Caltech for over forty years and retired as the Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering in 2005. As a teacher he was the recipient of a number of teaching awards including the prestigious Richard Feynman Prize.