Increases in power levels of the Hanford Piles have resulted in increased demands for process cooling water to the extent that the present filter plants are now operating at or above their design capacity. Further power level increases requiring even more cooling water may demand the operation of the filters considerably above design capacity. It has been proposed that by the use of aluminum sulfate, or filter alum, as a process water coagulant and activated silica as a coagulation aid, the present filter plant capacities could be increased appreciably. In order to investigate the effects of alum-treated water on pile operation, a full-pile production test was authorized in which alum was substituted for the standard ferric sulfate coagulant. This test was started in the 100-F Area on October 10, 1951. The results of the first thirty days of operation were presented in a previous report and served as a basis of the decision to proceed with installation of the activated silica addition facility. This report presents the data, results and conclusions obtained from the start of the test until its termination of December 28, 1951, when the addition of activated silica began.

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An outbreak of ruptures occurred in the KE Reactor during September, 1956. Radiometallurgical examination of three of these ruptures was requested by the IPD Reactor Fuels Operation. Examination of a fourth rupture which occurred in December, 1956, was later included in the original request. This report presents the results of the requested examination work.

The octant monitors are an improvement over the early sub-pile flux monitors, but they still do not monitor the flux in the active zone of the reactor. Chambers located within the pile active zone would give the desired information but the inpile environment is too severe to allow a reasonable life for these chambers. A beam hole monitor is suggested to provide the desired flux monitoring. The problem of reactor flux monitoring is discussed. The beam hole monitors have the advantage of providing adequate active zone coverage. Calculations were made to show the neutron current and current density at the chamber location as a function of the collimation of the detector assembly. These curves show the present sub-pile and octant monitors are sensitive primarily to the flux in the pile reflector rather, than in the active zone. The beam hole monitors can be made sensitive to the active zone flux only. Sufficient chamber current can be obtained to operate available trip circuitry. It is recommended that experimental work be started to prove out these beam hole monitors so any new reactor program may take advantage of them and that the monitoring of present piles can be improved.

Undesirably high radiation dosage rates are being encountered in the discharge areas during reactor outages. This is costly to operations in terms of burn-out time, extra work crews, and extended outages require to complete scheduled work. Significant savings in operating costs would be realized if the rear face radiation levels could be reduced during shutdowns. As a first step towards this some measurements have been made to identify and locate the major sources of this radiation. These results are given in this report. It is suggested that this information may be of use in devising a water treatment or purge technique which could reduce the rear face contamination problem encountered during outages.

This document provides the monthly reports for January 1952 through December 1952. These reports detail activities in the 100 areas during this time period. (FI)

Trends in reactor operation and maintenance have created the need for a rear face Hanford reactor manipulator which can routinely perform certain maintenance and operational functions, and which under high radiation exposure conditions can permit ruptured slug removal or other emergency type operations tb be conducted with little or no personnel radiation exposure. Because of the need for several tools, it was decided that the most desirable approach to a satisfactory manipulator program would be to provide a multi-tool manipulator which could do several distinct tasks. Of these tasks removing the rear face nozzle caps to facilitate removal of ruptured slugs and performance of ruptured slug removal operation were the most profitable routine functions which could be accomplished by a manipulator. The conventional mechanical arm was considered for use in non-routine situations such as recovery of slugs lodged in rear face piping or other disaster type situations which on occasions do happen. To insure the quickest return on the economic benefits of the program, the cap remover development was conducted as a separate study since it is more definitive then,the remainder of the manipulator program. A second phase involving the application of the mechanical arm and development of specialized tools …

In 1946, it was recommended, by the district engineer for the War Department, United States Engineer Office, that it was desirable to transfer all of the functions of production to Hanford, a production installation; thereby relieving the Argonne National Laboratory, a research installation, from production duties. This decision was based on the belief by Argonne National Laboratories that the principal problems of production were solved, as a result of a meeting held at Clinton Laboratories, October 25, 1946, during which, Dr. T.S. Chapman discussed with Major F.A. Valente the possibility of Hanford assuming full production responsibility for the product extracted from the irradiation of Special Request. This responsibility was to include the procurement of lithium fluoride, the preparation and canning of the pellets, the irradiation of the slugs, the extraction of the product and its subsequent shipment to the consumer. This report details historical aspects of this program and the P-10 Project.

It was found from graphite irradiations that the changes can be described by a growth component and a contraction component, and that the contraction is a linear function of exposure, while the growth is a function of both exposure and temperature which saturated at high exposures, say 3000 MWD/a ton. A graph is included. Contraction rate is determined for KW, KE, and H piles.

Summarized herein is the available information on the subject, ``Reactor Gamma Flux Monitors.`` Apparently, a misunderstanding exists between the U.K. representatives and the related information presented by Dr. Nilson at the Argonne meeting July 24 and 25th. Dr. Nilson`s reference at the US/UK meeting was to the use of gamma-compensated neutron detection chambers at Hanford. Such chambers have been designed and used in one old reactor for a short period as a prototype for a detector for the octant monitor system. No gamma compensated chambers are in any of the reactors at present. Under development is a neutron flux indicating system which will operate in the intermediate range (10{sup {minus}7} to 10{sup {minus}1} full power) and will use commercially available gamma compensated ion chambers. These will be used to provide signals for reactor period meters. At Hanford there has been no operating experience with gamma flux monitors as such or with extensive in core neutron flux monitors. Characteristics of systems under development are given for information as well as current information on the octant system.

The test detailed in this report is a part of a program seeking ways to reduce the amount of radioactivity in reactor effluent water. Arsenic-76 is a major contributor to the gastrointestinal, radiation dose received by downstream users of river water. Phosphorus-32 is the principal radioisotope in the flesh of whitefish caught in the vicinity of the Hanford reservation. Recent activation analyses of the commercial grade sulfuric acid used in process water treatment have indicated that this acid may be an important source of the parent elements that are transformed to arsenic-76 and phosphorus-32 in the reactors. The purpose of this test is to determine if the impurities in commercial grade sulfuric acid have a significant effect on the release rates of arsenic-76 and phosphorus-32 to the river in reactor effluent water.

E-Metal production is scheduled to start through the UO{sub 3} Plant in July of 1958. E-Metal is defined in HW-46138 as uranium metal enriched with U-235 to a level selected to be always-safe for non-metallic uranium forms, i.e. for compounds encountered during solvent extraction or calcination. Currently E-metal as selected contains 0.94% U-235 prior to irradiation. Planning of a segregation facility requires that the mixing of E-Metal with normal uranium be minimized, thereby preventing costly downgrading. Segregation of E-Metal through existing facilities would require extensive cleanout and flushing. Production scheduling with present demonstrated capacity would make this method impossible. The Redox Plant will produce E-Metal on an intermittent basis. It is expected that normal operating production of E-Metal through the Redox Plant will be quantities of 100 to 200 tons. Production through the UO{sub 3} Plant will follow on this same intermittent basis. During the first two quarters of FY `59 the UO{sub 3} Plant production of E-Metal is forecast at not greater than 100 tons per quarter. Following this initial period the E-Metal production is forecast to run 135 to 200 tons per quarter for the next three to four years. It is the purpose of this document to …

This report details a meeting held for the purpose of acquainting all interested parties with the present problems being encountered in the canning process. A short discussion of previous canning methods and their problems was presented as background information. The search for a bonding agent to bond the aluminum can to the uranium core covered such materials as AlSi, lead, tin, aluminum, and copper. Mach of this early work was guided by the University of Chicago. The Grasselli (du Pont) Laboratory developed the triple-dip process where the uranium was first heated in a copper-tin bath, rinsed in a tin bath, then canned in an AlSi bath with AlSi as the bonding agent. It appeared at this time that the best AlSi composition to use was a little toward the aluminum side of the eutectic composition of 12.5 percent silicon. A current problem and the one with which this meeting was primarily concerned is that of bond failure where the bond between the can and core is broken. Variables found in this most recent study to have an effect on the strength or quality of the bonding layer are discussed.

The design and proposed construction of the new PR facility for Redox is based on the need for increased capacity for plutonium processing (4.25 kg./day, equivalent to the 8.3 tons of U/day for Redox phase 2 rate), and reduced acid-to-Pu ratios in the final product to permit satisfactory processing in task 1 of the 234-5 operation. A number of alternate Pu cycle flowsheets have been scouted and proposed in the past several years. One such flowsheet decreases the acid-to-Pu ratio in the 3BP product by eliminating acid from the 2AX and 3AX, thus requiring either an increased solvent flow, or an increased ANN salting strength. This does not, however, provide additional Pu processing capacity. A second alternative flowsheet involves the reflux of 97.5% of the 2BP stream back to the 2A Column. The reflux flowsheet meets both of the needs outlined above, but on the basis of nuclear safety considerations is not yet considered ready for adoption in the Redox Plant. This report deals with the laboratory testing of a third alternative for reducing the acid concentration in the final product by decreasing the acidity of both scrub and feed streams to the third cycle.

Investigation of the physical and chemical properties of polonium important to its behavior and for the improvement of the quantity and quality produced is being continued. A sample of polonium is approximatelyf 1 x 10{sup 9} disintegrations per minute was counted in a Logac for 250 days in order to determine the half life. A statistical treatment of the results gave a half life of 138.3562 {+-} 0.446 days. Combined with previous calorimetric determinations a new grand mean of 138.3975 {+-} 0.0091 days resulted. The wavelengths of 138 lines appearing in the spark spectrum between 3050A and 3463A (Region 4) have been tentatively assigned to polonium and have a probable error of less than 0.02A. Thirty six lines in Region 6 (4225A to 5675A) tentatively assigned to polonium have a probable error of less than D D6A. A measurement of the resistivity of polonium has given a value of about 95 microohm centimeters, and although the Hall voltage could not be measured with much precision, it was possible to set a maximum value of 0.03 millivolt. These values indicate the polonium is a metallic conductor rather than a semiconductor. A rugged but compact gauge made of stainless steel with a …

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We have produced and chemically identified for the first time a few atoms of the element with atomic number 101. Very intense helium ion bombardments of tiny targets of 99{sup 253} have produced a few spontaneously fissionable atoms which elute in the eka-thulium position on a cation resin column.

By the use of a radically new method they have succeeded in identifying unambiguously an isotope of element 102. In other careful experiments conducted over a period of many months they find that they are unable to confirm the element 102 discovery work of Fields et al. reported in 1957. The experiments at Berkeley were performed with the new heavy ion linear accelerator (HILAC) over a period of several weeks and culinated the chemical identification of an isotope of fermium (Fm{sup 250}) as the daughter of an alpha-particle-emitting isotope of element 102 (102{sup 254}). The method used to detect the isotope of element 102 was essentially a continuous milking experiment wherein the atoms of the daughter element 100 were separated from the parent element 102 by taking advantage of the recoil due to the element 102 alpha particle decay. The target consisted of a mixture of isotopes of curium (95% Cm{sup 244} and 4.5% Cm{sup 246}) mounted on a very thin nickel foil. The target was approximately 0.5 mg/cm{sup 2} thick and was covered with 75 {micro}gm/cm{sup 2} aluminum to prevent curium 'knockover'. The curium was bombarded with mono-energetic C{sup 12} ions at energies from 60 to 100 Mev. The …

In many score of experiments conducted in various ways over a period of many months they find that they are unable to confirm the element 102 discovery work of Fields et al. reported in 1957. These experimenters ascribed to an isotope of element 102 an alpha particle activity having an energy of 8.5 {+-} 0.1 Mev and a half-life of approximately 10 minutes. It was reported to be produced by bombardments of a 1 mg/cm{sup 2} curium target with 0.03-0.10 mter-microamperes of C{sup 13} ions of about 90 Mev energy in the internal beam of the Nobel Institute 225 cm cyclotron. Our attempts to reproduce this activity were made with the monoenergetic ion beam available from the Berkeley heavy ion linear accelerator (HILAC). Curium with a similar isotopic composition was used, except that instead of one target they used six separate electroplated targets, four with 0.4 mg/cm{sup 2} curium and two with 0.1 mg/cm{sup 2} curium. These were mounted in vacuum so that the heavy ion beam could pass through and knock the transmutation recoils into 0.9 mg/cm{sup 2} palladium foils. After a suitable bombardment the six catcher foils were dissolved in a few drops of concentrated aqua regia and …

After the first hydrocarbon bubble chambers were built by Donald Glaser in 1952, work was started at Chicago and Berkeley to find if liquid hydrogen could be used as the working fluid in a bubble chamber. In the fall of 1953, it was found by the Chicago group that superheated liquid hydrogen could be made to boil under the influence of ionizing radiation, but no tracks were observed. The observation of tracks at Berkeley a few months later completed the proof that hydrogen was a usable bubble chamber liquid. (Irradiated liquid nitrogen boils when superheated, but as of spring 1956 no one has seen tracks in liquid nitrogen.) In the past two years, the Chicago group has built several all-glass hydrogen chambers, the most recent of which is approximately 5.5 by 5.5 by 20 cm inside dimensions. Their chambers have been of the so-called clean variety (like Glaser's eariy ones), in which no boiling takes place unless ionizing particles aze present. They have used their latest chamber in an extensive study of the scattering of low-energy pions by protons.

Results of an analysis to determine the extent of displacement of the EGCR core due to blowdown in case of several postulated hot main gas coolant pipe failures are summarized. Results show that the core will be damaged for ary hot pipe double-ended failure. Excepting the improbable case of no coolant flow existing prior to the break, the core will be damaged for any hot pipe fracture exposing a total flow area to the atmosphere equal to that of one pipe. Smaller breaks will probably be safe in this respect. (auth)

An experimental, gamma-sensitive, coaxial radioelectric cell has been tested by the Control Section. It was found to be as precise as the rotating sample gamma counter but much faster and simpler to operate. A gamma-sensitive, radioelectric cell of improved design has been constructed for the 'Y' Section. A neutron sensitive radioelectric cell has been tested over a range of pressures with various filling gases and with several combinations of hydrogenous electrode backings. Neutron to gamma discrimination ratios as high as 2,000 to 1 were obtained, A multiple electrode, alpha radiation, radioelectric cell using coated plastic electrodes gave increased current output, but the electrode life was quite short. Preliminary life tests indicated that aluminum electroscope foil would give excellent electrode life and techniques were worked out for making good electrodes of both aluminum and of gold electroscope foil. The vacuum-pressure gas system has been redesigned and completely rebuilt (p. 5) The fast-neutron scintillation counter is much smaller and lighter than a B-wall proportional counter and a large moderator. The former is more efficient for polonium-beryllium neutron sources but is less efficient for radium-beryllium neutron sources or for polonium sources producing lower energy neutrons The fast neutron scintillation counter would thus be …

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By the injection of hormones and other agents which have been reported to influence scar formation, attempts were made to interfere with normal wound healing after the production of moderate second degree burns in pigs. It was hoped that some information on the development or prevention of hypertrophic scars and keloids might be gained from this experiment. Systemic administration of Doca, cortisone, and toluidine blue, and local injection of cortisone, histamine, and hyaluronidase neither delayed healing nor altered significantly the histologic processes involved in the restoration of dermal tissues. (auth)