Output of plutonium from the separations plants Purex, Redox was slightly less than that scheduled; however, year-to-date production exceeds the corresponding commitment. Production of UO{sub 3} met the commitment, and UO{sub 3} shipments conformed to the established shipping schedule. Production of buttons and shapes was slightly less than the commitment as shown in the current Official Forecast. Shipments of buttons conformed to the current Forecast, while large shape shipments were slightly less than those forecasted. Feasibility of neptunium recovery was studied. Employee relations are reported.

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Re-appraisal of the available data on flow times of the Columbia River between the reactor areas and Pasco was undertaken to permit extrapolation of the flow-time curves to lower river flow rates. Comparisons were made between data collected by the US Corps of Engineers and Regional Monitoring and with the equation for calculation of flow times developed by H.T. Norton. Extrapolation of the Regional Monitoring float study data to a flow of 3 {times} 10{sup 5} gallons per second was accomplished by comparison with the slope of the curve obtained from the US Corps of Engineers data; the latter covered flow times from 100-F Area to Pasco over a range of 3.4 {times} 10{sup 5} gps to 3.7 {times} 10{sup 6} gps. The revised flow-time curves are illustrated in Figures 1 through 6.

The pinhole neutron experiment is sometimes called ``Pinex``, a name which has also been used to describe the pin method of measuring the time required for imploding metals to travel to certain locations in space. The two experiments are not related and should not be confused with each other. The pinhole neutron experiment is very similar to the optical pinhole camera in which light passing through a pinhole in an opaque screen produces an inverted image of the source. In the pinhole neutron experiment 14 Mev neutrons from a thermonuclear device travel in straight.lines from their respective points of origin outward in all directions. Those which pass through a pinhole in an opaque neutron shield make an inverted neutron image of the source. Some of the neutrons which form the image are captured by threshold detector plates which have been suitably located behind the pinhole. Neutrons that have sufficient energy react with the nuclei of the detector plate to form radioactive nuclei that by their decay locate the position of the image on the plate. The image may be made visible by autoradiography or counting techniques. In the autoradiograph, an x-ray film is placed in contact with the image plate. …