Approximate Method in Estimating Sensitivity Responses to Variations in Delayed Neutron Energy Spectra

Previous our numerical results in computing point kinetics equations show a possibility in developing approximations to estimate sensitivity responses of nuclear reactor We recalculate sensitivity responses by maintaining the corrections with first order of sensitivity parameter. We present a method for computing sensitivity responses of nuclear reactor based on an approximation derived from point kinetics equations. Exploiting this approximation, we found that the first order approximation works to estimate variations in the time to reach peak power because of their linear dependence on a sensitivity parameter, and that there are errors in estimating the peak power in the first order approximation for larger sensitivity parameters. To confirm legitimacy of our approximation, these approximate results are compared with exact results obtained from our previous numerical study.