Monthly report the progress and development of improved zirconium alloys for service in superheated water and steam. This report covers the period between April 1 to April 31, 1961 and was conducted by the United States and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

"The magnetic properties of color centers were studied to obtain information regarding electron traps in insulators. Experiments designed to determine the equation governing the recovery of resonance after saturation were carried out. Relatively large samples were prepared by the method of additive coloration. KCl and RbCl crystals were used. Resonance saturation as a function of concentration was investigated and no significant dependence found. Measurements of the unsaturated susceptibility were made at liquid nitrogen and liquid helium temperatures. The bleaching of the F-center to form the B-band produced a different resonance. The equipment for observing the saturation and recovery of a portion of the resonance at 4 deg K is described. A theoretical examination was made of the interaction between the vibration of the ions around a negative-ion vacancy in an alkali halide and an electron trapped at that site. (M.C.G.)."

The following report is the final technical report on a series of reports under contract AT(11-1)-515, titled "Niobium Phase Diagrams", covering the period from April 15, 1957 to April 16, 1960.

"This bibliography lists selected books, articles, and unclassified reports which have appeared in the following abstracts and indexes between August 1959 and December 1960."

"The problem of explaining the lack of radiative muon decay in an intermediate charged vector meson theory is discussed. A possible way of introducing the charged vector meson to the theory of weak interactions is outlined in which renormalization is retained. However, if this way is used, the anomalous magnetic moment is calculated to be large, which is in contradiction with expectation."

"The laboratory experiments and field testing which were carried out in the development of a homogeneous gas labeling device are described. Detailed drawings of the injector and its most critical components are included. Recommendations are made for a production model of the device along with estimated costs of construction."

"The previously found maximum in the cosmic radiation energy spectrum is discussed, and the possibility that it arises in part from a misinterpretation of the data due to oversimplifying assumptions about the composition of the beam is examined. The importance that lack of recognition of isotopic composition may have is pointed out, and it is clear that this importance is strongly dependent on the measurements made and on the cut-off rigidity."

"Progress is reported on Phase II of a program for the development of a mixed fission product fueled thermoelectric generator. Materials studies are described in which bonded assemblies of bismuth telluride were life tested up to 3000 hours at 350 to 400 deg F hot junction temperature. Data were too inconsistent to define any satisfactory long-life bonding process. Further work is needed to eliminate the process variables. Insulation studies aimed at determining the thermal conductivity of various insulations with different fill gases under reduced pressures are described. Opacified aerogel powder appears to be very promising as an insulation medium for a diffuse heat source. A full- scale simulated test generator aimed at proving out the concept of a diffuse heat source for power generation is described. Progress on the construction of this electrically heated generator and its thermoelectric power converter is related.

A crystallographic study of the transition element beryllides was undertaken in support of phase diagram work. These beryllides are very high melting, and the use of ordinary methods make it difficult to determine stoichiometry. We have succeeded in establishing the compositions and complete crystal structure description of all of the room temperature stable or metastable compounds of the beryllides of niobium, tantalum, titanium zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, chromium and molybdenum. Since some of the structures found were not previously reported, complete structure determinations had to be done.

Abstracts. Results are given for bulk-density and pulse-velocity measurements performed on specimens of the Project Hobo medium. Test techniques, sample handling, and specimen preparation are described. Values are tabulated in terms of sample origin and geological identity.

Abstract. Three groups of 100 foot holes were drilled vertically downward from the floor of U 12e main tunnel and U 123.03 drift at the Nevada Test Site. Distances between holes in each group varied from 13 to 375 feet. One hole in each group was used a a 'shot hole'; the others for seismometers to records the energy generated in the 'shot hole'. Two types of recordings were made. One for dilatational or longitudinal "P" waves and one for transverse or shear "S" waves. Simultaneous recordings were made on photographic paper and on magnetic belts with a minimum of three "specimen" records at each hole, for each type of recording. The magnetic belts were transcribed to 1/2 inch IRIG tape for computer use. Rock density measurements were also made in the holes. From these data Poisson's Ratio, Bulk Modulus, Rigidity Modulus, and Young's Modulus were computed. Elastic constant values obtained 'in sltu' are much higher than those determined by soils laboratory tests on small rock samples. The data obtained are considered to be of exceptionally high accuracy.

Summary. The analysis of the motion of a six-bar linkage is difficult because of the large number of variables involved and the large number of calculations that have to be made for each position of the linkage. If a digital computer is used to make the calculations required for a multi-position analysis of a mechanism, it is feasible to design by analyzing a large numbers of similar linkages and selecting the optimum configuration. In this paper expressions have been derived for the output angle as a function of the input angle and the transmission angle as a function of the input angle for any single-degree-of-freedom six-bar linkage for which the parameters are known An example showing the usefulness of a six-bar computer program as a mechanism design tool is discussed.

Abstract. The peacetime application of nuclear explosives to the conservation and development of our national water resources is, at this time, of sufficient promise to present some of the possibilities publicly. In nuclear explosives man has at his disposal and service, a powerful source of energy - a new tool - that we believe can be utilized safely to excavate channels and lake basins, or to create conduits of broken permeable material and underground reservoirs. In surveying the possible applications of nuclear explosives, the following ideas are among those worthy of serious consideration: (a) the use of nuclear explosives for the economic movement of large volumes of earth in the construction of earth fill dames, (b) the use of nuclear explosives for the diversion of a stream from a river system, whose flow is largely lost to the sea, into another stream channel leading to an arid section or a closed basin, (c) the use of nuclear explosives to create a recharge basin or a conduit to a subsurface aquifer for fresh water recharge, and (d) the use of nuclear explosives to create off-channel reservoirs for the elimination of saline waters through recharge to a mineralized aquifer and by evaporation.

The objective is to establish, from test results, the relationship between pressure loss and orifice configuration, mass rate, and steam quality, for a Fuel Cycle fuel assembly.

This report summarizes the research and development work carried out during December, 1959, and January and February, 1960, for Budget Activity 2790 - Separations Development for Non-Production Reactors. The major effort on Activity 2790 has been completed. Current efforts on the remaining problem areas will enable Hanford to begin reprocessing fuel elements from power reactors which employ depleted or slightly enriched uranium fuels in July, 1962.

Critical mass experiments to be conducted at HAPO will require dilute and concentrated plutonium solutions. Since very high plutonium concentrations (~2,000 g/l) cannot be attained in pumpable solutions, solid plutonium compounds will be utilized for this phase of the work. Mixtures of plutonium oxide and polyethylene, methyl methacrylate or paraffin compacted in containers have been considers for use in highly-concentrated plutonium systems of known hydrogen to plutonium atomic ratio (H/Pu).

"The study of the toxicity of Ra and MsTh(Ra/sup 228/) in humans was continued. Several Thorotrast cases were also examined. Physical and clinical studies were made on 151 persons. In all cases possible gamma ray measurements were made of Ra and MsTh decay products retained in the body, alpha -ray measurements of Rn and Rn/sup 220/ in breath, a complete medical history was taken, a complete x-ray examination was made of the skeleton, and urinalysis, hematological, and blood chemistry studies were made."

"The study of the toxicity of Ra and MsTh(Ra/sup 228/) in humans was continued. Several Thorotrast cases were also examined. Physical and clinical studies were made on 151 persons. In all cases possible gamma ray measurements were made of Ra and MsTh decay products retained in the body, alpha -ray measurements of Rn and Rn/sup 220/ in breath, a complete medical history was taken, a complete x-ray examination was made of the skeleton, and urinalysis, hematological, and blood chemistry studies were made."

A research and development program aimed at devising processes for the economical recovery of the potentially valuable long-lived fission products from Purex waste has been under wat at Hanford for several years. When this work has begun, the concentrated waste was primarily a nitric acid solution (6 to 10 M HNO3) containing the fission products and relatively small concentrations of iron, sulfate, and other corrosion products. Flowsheets based on classical separation schemes and rather similar to processes used by the Isotopes Division at the AEC's Oak Ridge operation served to separate the desired fission products from one another and from the corrosion products (1,2,3).These separation schemes employed careful step-wise pH adjustment to precipitate first the iron and then to separate the desired fission products from one another. The flowsheets were demonstrated on a pilot-plant scale with full-level plant waste. However, since the earlier work was complete, plant operations have been modified....

At the present time, cerium-144 and premtheium-147 are the two fission product rare earths that appear most promising for use as the heat source in isotopic power units. Under proper conditions, cerium and the trivalent rare earths can be extracted from the Purex fission product waste stream as an insoluble sodium-rare earth double sulfate. A reprecipitation as the double sulfate, dissolution of the hydroxide, serves to give almost complete separation from the corrosion products, inert constituents of the waste, and from most of the fission products. The cerium and the trivalent rare earths must then be separated from each other. In the case of cerium recovery, it is necessary to remove the trivalent rare earths in order to maximize the specific activity of the cerium. If promethium is the desired product, a preliminary cerium separation is desirable to protect the ion-exchange resin (used for separating promethium from its adjacent rare earths) from the intense high-energy radiation from cerium.

Four capsules containing Al-1.65 w/o Pu and Al-12 w/o Si-1.65 w/o Pu were charged into the MTR. These capsules will be irradiated to a burnup of 80-100% of the plutonium atoms to determine the stability of the material at high exposures. An additional sixteen capsules containing 5 to 20 w/o Pu in Al and Al-Si have been prepared. Eight are awaiting reactor space and should be charged soon. The remaining eight are being recanned to increase the end gap between the core and the can. Also four capsules containing high density UO2-PuO2 pellets canned in Zircaloy are awaiting assignment of reactor space.

"The understanding of interactions between the elementary particles, which no number thirty, and range from the massless neutrino to the Е with a mass of approximately 1320 Mev, in a prerequisite to the knowledge of the structure of matter. Although the complex aggregate of elementary particles which constitute matter displays properties different from those of the basic building blocks, nevertheless it is impossible to gain a firm knowledge of the behavior of matter without first ascertaining in the intrinsic properties of elementary particles, as well as the dynamics of their interactions. The present work is concerned with inelastic proton-proton scattering at 1.35 Bev, where single pion production predominates."

"The properties of the muon have been studied for many years and much is now known about this particle. Very accurate measurements of its mass and magnetic moment gave values in the relationship predicted by the Dirac equation and quantum electrodynamics. Experimental evidence indicating that the muon spin is 1/2 is obtained from comparison of precession measurements of the muon bound in certain mesic atoms and from observation of muonium precession. To all appearances, one would conclude that the muon behaves as an unstable electron, but as 206.76 times the mass of that electron. A study of the interaction of the muon with nuclear matter may throw more light on this problem of muon-electron equivalence."

Technique used in deriving values of the linac ball tuner settings to produce various fields is discussed briefly, and tables showing ball tuner change numbers and values used in making up the ball tuner change numbers are given.