Dr. Samuel Glasstone, the senior author of the previous editions of this
book, was anxious to live until his ninetieth birthday, but passed away
in 1986, a few months short of this milestone. I am grateful for the
many years of stimulation received during our association, and in
preparing this edition have attempted to maintain his approach. Previous
editions of this book were intended to serve as a text for students and
a reference for practicing engineers. Emphasis was given to the broad
perspective, particularly for topics important to reactor design and
oper- ation, with basic coverage provided in such supporting areas as
neutronics, thermal-hydraulics, and materials. This, the Fourth Edition,
was prepared with these same general objectives in mind. However, during
the past three decades, the nuclear industry and university educational
programs have matured considerably, presenting some challenges in
meeting the objec- tives of this book. Nuclear power reactors have
become much more complex, with an ac- companying growth in supporting
technology. University programs now offer separate courses covering such
basic topics as reactor physics, thermal- hydraulics, and materials.
Finally, the general availability of inexpensive xv xvi Preface powerful
micro-and minicomputers has transformed design and analysis procedures
so that sophisticated methods are now commonly used instead of earlier,
more approximate approaches.
