The following report is the ninth in a series of monthly reports covering the program with the objective of developing alloys having superior 680 F water and/or 750 to 900 F steam corrosion resistance, as well as developing higher strength alloys for current temperature ranges while still maintaining corrosion resistance comparable to that of Zircaloy-2. This report was made covering the period December 1 to December 31, 1960.

The following objectives were planned for this project. (1) Development of spinning data necessary for spinning Columbium and Columbium-1% Zirconium tubing from ingot, forged or welded tube blanks. (2) Determine mechanical & metallurgical properties of spun Columbium and Columbium-1% Zirconium tubing. (3) Determine dimensional and tolerance limits possible to attain on spun Columbium and Columbium-1% Zirconium tubing based on our present equipment, tooling limitations, and the spinning tests performed for objective No. 1.

This report follows a series of tests run to determine the shielding properties of beryllium oxide, conducted at the Battelle Lid-Tank Shielding Facility. Neutron and gamma penetrations through and behind beryllium oxide were measured.

"The ion source used for hydrogen and deuterium ions in the variable energy cyclotron at the University of Rochester is of the hooded arc type. For the past year it has been operating with a new feature which has greatly improved its performance. The new feature is a magnetic mirror built into the upper end of the arc hood by a simple insertion of a steel bearing ball 1/8" in diameter. The magnetic field gradient near the ball provides a magnetic mirror action on electrons moving up the arc channel toward the ball, reflecting may of them."

"Evacuated electrical oscillating cavities frequently are found to exhibit a strong loading due to electron (or iron) multiplications, the so-called multipactor effect. This effect tends to prevent the buildup of dee voltage in cyclotrons. In conventional cyclotrons driven from external oscillators having their own resonant tank circuits the difficulties are usually slight, but in cyclotrons using a simple dee system as the tank circuit difficulties are encountered in getting the oscillator to break into full oscillation."

"This paper deals with the Riemann function for linear hyperbolic systems of first-order equations. the leading term in the singularity of the Riemann function is determined and interpreted. In addition to equations with distinct characteristics, certain equations with multiple characteristics are treated."

This article presents data on the effects of gamma radiation on the physical properties of a number of different classes of plastics materials of construction which were screened to determine their capabilities and limitations for service in applications where ionizing radiation exists. The irradiations were carried out in air at ambient temperature at normal atmospheric pressure to various gamma radiation doses up to 1*10^9 r depending upon the stability of the materials to radiation exposure. The different classes of materials and materials within a class are compared.

The guiding center motion and the adiabatic invariants of charged particle trajectories in electromagnetic fields are treated in this review. General and specific theories of charged particle motion are also reviewed.

This paper reports the chemical and physical properties of the NTA film packet. It correlates with these properties the response of this packet to neutrons of various energies. In this correlation the concept of the track unit is introduced as a basic unit for reporting film-packet response.

This program was established to develop new information concerning the mechanism of diffusion of fission gases (krypton and xenon) through UO2 and UC. The work was to concentrated on measurements of diffusion rates in unirradiated materials in the temperature range of 1000°C to above 2000°C, these determinations being important to the projected use of refractory fuel materials in high-temperature, high-burnup reactors.

The study which has been carried out under Contract AT(30-1)2477 has as its objective the review of all work which has been done on the application of radionuclear techniques to research in water resources and supply, the evaluation of this work, and the suggestions of specific experiments which must be performed if these applications are to be extended.

Abstract. Some recent analysis of certain Lid Tank fast neutron dose rates measured in oil and water indicates that there are some basic inconsistencies with reported oxygen and carbon removal cross sections and the reported data. These inconsistencies may be explained in several ways: (1) The reported carbon removal cross section is wrong. (2) The reported oil composition is wrong. (3) The reported oxygen removal cross section is wrong since it is based on an assumed rather than a measured oil composition. (4) Some of the experimental data are wrong. It is not possible to determine which of the above is most likely on the basis of analysis alone but the possibilities are pointed out and, based on the assumption that all the experimental data are correct, it appears most likely that the oil composition assumed in ORNL 2197 was in error.

Four methods of rebunching protons within Brookhaven's AGS are discussed. The first method involving switching off the old r-f and switching on the new r-f simultaneously with the new r-f increasing adiabatically seems impractical. Two other methods utilize gradual removal of the old r-f voltage and introduction of the new r-f voltage, or the reverse. Removal of the old r-f voltage followed by introduction of the new seems to give the best results. Several phase diagrams are included. (D.C.W.)

An easy experiment for undergraduate students to measure the mass and diameter of a copper atom can be performed with inexpensive apparatus normally available any college physics laboratory. By measuring the density and by copperplating, one can obtain results which are accurate to better than 5%.

Figures 1 and 2 summarize total decay energies for the four radioactive series. The alpha-decay energy obtained by measuring the energy of the alpha particle leading to the ground state includes the energy of the recoil nucleus. The curve shown in figure 3 defines in broad outline the conditions and regions of alpha instability. A great deal more is to be learned from a more detailed examination of the region where alpha radioactivity is prominent. Of great value to the experimentalist is that he is able to predict alpha energies, and the agreement between predicted and measured values often serves as a criterion for isotopic assignment. A number of systems for correlating alpha decay energies have been employed, and that perhaps most widely used is illustrated in figure 4. Here the isotopes of each element on a mass number vs. energy plot are joined, resulting in a family of curves which over a wide region comprise a series of nearly parallel lines.

A repeatable technique for preparation of thin, self-supporting copper films has been developed at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Livermore, California. The process, done in a vacuum chamber, involves evaporation of copper by electron bombardment, and deposition of the copper on a detergent-coast glass substrate. The copper film is later removed from the substrate by immersion in water.

"A comparison of the grafting of a 2:1 molar mixture of methacrylic acid and styrene to both polypropylene film and fabric using CO60 source and electron accelerator as sources of ionizing radiation is made on the basis of mutual or simultaneous grafting and post-irradiation grafting.

This study was designed to determine how swaging stainless steel over unground pellets will affect the integrity of fuel rods, and to find maximum pellet diameter variation that can be tolerated.

Measurements of the interfacial tension between water and tributyl phosphate solutions were made for application to the analysis of Marengoni effect in solvent extraction. A 24 hr flame calcination run to product Th02 particles yielded 40% as product and 54% collected from the furnace walls and from a coarse particle trap. The elution rates of uranyl ion from Dowex 21K using sodium nitrate could be approximated by assuming apparent diffusion coefficients of 1.67 x 10^-7 and 1.18 x 10 ^-7 cm^2/sec, respectively for 960µ and 820µ resn while the corresponding apparent coefficients using sodium chloride were 1. 78 x 10^-7 and 1.27 x 1-^-7 cm^2/sec. The reacting surface of ThO2 Universal Match Co. pellets was determined as a function of fraction dissolved. The lead scews and companion nuts from both the multipurpose saw and dejacketing machine were coated with a baked on lubricant. In Zirflex decladding studies using 4.5 M NH4F - 0.5 M NH4NO3, the average dissolution rate of Zircaloy-2 was decreased only 10% when the overhead condensate was withdrawn and 1.0 M NH4OH was added to maintain the volume.

A nonnuclear explosion involving an evaporator occurred in a shielded cell in the Radiochemical Processing Pilot plant at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Plutonium released from the processing cell contaminated areas in the pilot plant building and nearby streets and building surfaces. The explosion is considered the result of rapid reaction of nitrated organic compounds formed by the inadvertent nitration of about 14 liters of a proprietary decontaminating reagent.

THOROBRED is an IBM-704 code for the calculation of nuclear and economic characteristics of two-region homogeneous reactors operating on a U-Th fuel cycle in the steady state. The major input variables are reactor dimensions, power level, thorium concentration, chemical and purification systems cycle times, corrosion rates, fraction of Pa loss, and nuclear and economic data. The output includes equilibrium isotope concentrations, neutron balance, and a breakdown of fuel cost. Running times are normally less than one minute per case.

A multiple controller system for a single process is formulated in block diagram form. It is shown that for the general case of n controllers and one type of cross coupling, the system equations can be reduced to the standard forms of servomechanism theory. The effects of failure in individual controllers are examined, and it is demonstrated that the system shows considerable promise for both reliability and maintenance without process interruption.

A cross section tape has been prepared containing data for elements of most interest for aqueous homogeneous reactor multigroup diffusion calculations involving combinations of 150, 200, 240, 260, and 280°C temperatures. This tape permits multigroup analysis of a reactor in which two or more regions are at different temperatures.

Startup accident and pump run-down on the ORR have been simulated on the Reactor Controls Analog Facility. At full flow the 150% level scram (45 Mv) easily terminates the startup accident before the metal temperature gets above 180°F. For very low flows typical of criticality runs, temperature coefficients turn the excursion before it reaches 150% of full power, and temperatures climb to boiling, a potentially hazardous condition. (This same behavior can occur at full flow is the power is increased to the point where the level scram must be set above 50 Mw).