Department of Energy Science and Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Note: In case any vital information appears to be missing in any question, please make a
sensible assumption for the same based on the values available in relevant literature. The
questions are rather simple and straight forward as the primary aim of the tutorial sheet is
to provide initial exposure to some of the concepts and calculations relevant for energy sector.
Please let us know of any typos as well as of any other oversight in preparing the tutorial
sheet.
Section A: Fundamental problems
1. Estimate the time one will take to produce a 100 Ci source of 36Cl by irradiating 1 gm of natural
nickel chloride (molecular weight 129.6) in a neutron flux of 1014 cm-2s-1. The cross-section for the
neutron capture reaction 35Cl(n, )36Cl us 43 b and the half-life of 36Cl is long (3105 years) and it
is known that 75.8% of natural chlorine consists of 35Cl.

2. A thin (1 mg/cm2) target of 48Ca is bombarded with a 10 nA beam of -particles. A detector

3. An equivalent whole-body dose of 2 mSv is received from  irradiation. Calculate the total energy
absorbed in joules by a body mass of 70 kg. Calculate the absorbed, equivalent and effective doses
if 30 J of energy is deposited in the liver of mass 1.7 kg using (a) -rays or (b) 10 MeV neutrons.
Assume, the relative biological effectiveness, wR is 1 for -rays and 10 for 10 MeV neutrons. The
tissue weighting factor (wT) to the liver is 0.05.

4. On an average, 0.27% of the mass of the human body is potassium (K) of which 0.012% is
radioactive 40K (t1/2 = 1.25109 years). Each decay releases an average energy of 0.5 MeV beta and
gamma radiation which is absorbed by the body. Calculate the absorbed dose over a lifetime of 70
years from this source of background exposure.

5. One third of the core of a PWR is removed and replaced with fresh fuel approximately once a year.
For a nominal 1,000 MWe PWR plant, each reload requires about 33 ,000 kg of 3.2 w%-enriched
UO2. If the feed to the enrichment plant is natural uranium, and the tails assay is 0.20 w%: (a) How
much feed is required per reload? (b) How much would the enrichment cost at the USD 130.75 per
kg SWU?

6. Consider the CANDU reactor operating on a once-through cycle. This reactor is fuelled directly
with natural uranium dioxide, and the maximum specific burnup of the fuel is about 7,500 MWd
per metric ton of uranium. Estimate the resource utilization of the plant.

7. A Light Water Reactor (LWR), also passes through a once-through cycle. The fuel is now partially
enriched to 3% by wt., the amount of natural uranium Mu required to produce a fuel load
Considering the typical enrichment tailings to be about 0.2%, estimate the resource utilization of
the plant.

8. Given a distribution of reactant particles (ni and nj) in thermal equilibrium,

a. Derive an expression for the characteristic reaction time, R

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 b. Estimate the characteristic reaction time for a 10 keV D-D reaction with nD=1020 m-3 and
<v>=1.3  10-24 m3/s. (Atomic mass of Deuterium=2.014 amu).

9. In a fusion energy device undergoing the following reaction:

Estimate the maximum fusion power density available for extraction from the neutrons in the
above reaction, given that RDT is the total reaction rate of the D-T reaction, with 1019 m-3 particles
of each species reacting at a reaction rate probability of 1.2 x 10-22 m3/s.

10. Assuming that the only loss from a fusion reactor is that of the free-free bremsstrahlung radiation
given by:
/
𝑃 = 1.59 × 10 𝑛 𝑛𝑍 𝑇
and operating with an efficiency (η) in conversion of the thermal energy in the fusion reactor to
useful electrical energy
a. Estimate the relation for the minimum density requirement in attaining self-sustaining fusion
reactions, given that τe is the energy confinement time.
b. Assuming that the above relation is just satisfied for plasma consisting of an equal numbers
of deuterons and tritons ion species at a temperature of 10 keV in a fusion reactor having an
energy confinement time of 5 seconds. Determine the minimum density of ion species
required in the plasma. Consider the conversion efficiency (η) of the reactor as 35%.

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