THESE TWO VOLUMES CONSTITUTE A RECORD OF THE TECHNICAL, ADMINISTRATIVE , AND POLICY-MAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE LOS ALAMOS PROJECT (PROJECT Y) FROM ITS INCEPTION UNDER THE MANHATTAN DISTRICT THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATOMIC BOMB (VOL. I), AND DURING THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE END OF WORLD WAR II UNTIL THE MANHATTAN DISTRICT RELINQUISHED CONTROL TO THE ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION AS OF JANUARY 1947 (VOL. II). ALTHOUGH SEC URITY REGULATIONS HAVE REQUIRED SOME DELETIONS IN THE ORIGINAL TEXT OF THE TWO VOLUMES, EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO RETAIN THE ORIGINAL LANGUGAGE AND EXPERSSIONS OF THE AUTHORS.

Isothermal reaction curves and T-T-T curves showing the effect of different variables on the beta-alpha transformations in plutonium are presented. Impurity content, stresses, beta heat-treating time and temperature, hydrostatic pressing, specimen size, and thermal cycling influenced the kinetics of the beta- alpha transformation. Decreasing the impurlty content increased the rate of transformation. High tensile stress retarded the beta-alpha transformation. Increasing the beta heat-treating time and temperature markedly decreased the rate of transformation. Hydrostatic pressing at 90,000 psi accelerated the beta- alpha transformation under pressure but decreased any subsequent beta-alpha transformations by as much as two orders of magnitude. Specimen size had no effect on the start of the transformation but increasing the specimen size from 0.010 to 0.37 inch decreased the rate of completion of transformation several orders of magnitude. Thermal cycling less than 15 cycles did not affect the rate of transformation. The density of high purity plutonium during hydrostatic pressing at l80 deg C and cooling under pressure increased from 19.60 to 19.65 g/ cm/sup 3/to 19.70 to 19.75 g/cm/sup 3/. This increase was shown to be attributed to decreasing the volume of microcracks rather than transformation of any metastable beta phase. A T-T-T curve of the alpha-beta …

The technique of radiation characterization is reviewed, with particular emphasis on new methods and their practi-cal aspects. Each type of detector is discussed in terms of its principle of operation and its applicability to various problems in counting and spectrometry. Auxiliary electronic instrumentation and the function of each instrument are described in general terms. Other topics discussed include low-level counting, absolute counting, and the mounting of radioactive sources. (137 references.) (C.H.)