ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a background on heat transfer in reactor systems; describes methods of analysis employed in the reactor thermal-hydraulics and safety with basic analysis processes and tools; and also provides a sources of information, and computer codes used for detailed reactor thermal-hydraulics and safety analysis. The nuclear power reactor is a source of thermal energy which is used to produce electricity through the conventional steam heat engine process known as the Rankine cycle. The heat generated from fission product decay due to high-power operation can be temporarily higher than the heat generated from the fission product decay at low-power operation. Heat generated within the moderator is from neutron thermalization through elastic scattering. The heat transfer with forced flow is referred as forced convention, and if the heat transfer is primarily due to gravitational force, it is referred as natural convention or free convection.
