Editing Neutron transport (section)

==Background==

Neutron transport has roots in the [[Boltzmann equation]], which was used in the 1800s to study the kinetic theory of gases. It did not receive large-scale development until the invention of chain-reacting nuclear reactors in the 1940s. As neutron distributions came under detailed scrutiny, elegant approximations and analytic solutions were found in simple geometries. However, as computational power has increased, numerical approaches to neutron transport have become prevalent. Today, with massively parallel computers, neutron transport is still under very active development in academia and research institutions throughout the world.  It remains a computationally challenging problem since it depends on time and the 3 dimensions of space, and the variables of energy span several orders of magnitude (from fractions of meV to several MeV).  Modern solutions use either [[Discrete ordinates method|discrete ordinates]] or [[Monte Carlo method|Monte Carlo]] methods, or even a hybrid of both.