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The basic design and development concepts are presented on a six vane air motor intended for use at elevated temperatures. (auth)

"Two short turbojet combustors designed for use with vaporized hydrocarbon fuels were tested in a one-quarter annular duct. The experimental combustors consisted of many small "swirl-can" combustor elements manifolded together. This design approach allowed the secondary mixing zone to be considerably reduced over that of conventional combustors" (p. 1).

This document details activities of the Fuels Preparation Department during the month of December 1957.

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, physics and instrumentation, reactor technology, chemistry, separation processes, biology, financial activities, employee relations, laboratories auxiliaries, radiation protection, operation research, inventions, visits, and personnel status are discussed. This report is for December 1957.

This document provides the conclusions and recommendations of the study of purging of surface condenser tubes. (FI)

The purpose of this report is to present a set of standard pressure-drop curves for various fuel elements in process tubes of Hanford reactors. The flow and pressures within a process tube assembly under normal conditions are dependent to a large extent on the magnitude of the pressure drop across the fuel elements. The knowledge of this pressure drop is important in determination of existing thermal conditions within the process tubes and in predicting conditions for new fuel element designs or changes in operating conditions. The pressure-flow relations for the different Hanford fuel element-process tube assemblies have all been determined at one time or another in the 189-D Hydraulics Laboratory but the data had never been collected into a single report. Such a report is presented now in the interest of establishing a set of ``standard curves`` as determined by laboratory investigations. It must be recognized that the pressure drops of fuel elements in actual process tubes in the reactors may be slightly different than those reported here. The data presented here were obtained in new process tubes while reactor process tubes are usually either corroded or filmed, depending on their past history.

Summary and conclusion: More than 4000 feet of Lower Miocene lake sediments were deposited upon a gneissic basement rock, at least locally. The sediments have been gently folded into broad anticlines and synclines and have been cut by high-angle faults with displacements on the order of 100 feet. Both basaltic (?) and acid andesitic lavas have intruded the sediments. A Pleistocene (?) conglomerate unconformably overlies all older exposed rocks. The lake sediments were considered to overlie the adjacent thick series of andesite flows (l). This was not established by a cursory examination. The sediments appeared to be in fault contact with the lavas although the relationship was always obscured by the younger conglomerate or alluvial cover. Since a dike of this acid andesitic composition was observed cutting the sediments, there is a possibility that the lake sediments are older than or contemporaneous with the thick extrusive andesite series.

Proceedings of the 1958 Nuclear Merchant Ship Symposium.

The "ORACLE", Oak Ridge Automatic Computer and Logical Engine, was installed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory :in 1953 and.has been in operation since that time. This manual describes the machine's design, the number systems it uses, and its basic operations.

The status of the overall design, fabrication, and installation of the component items of the PAR loop experiment in the ORR is reviewed.

The purpose of this report is to present the results of transient and steady state heat transfer experiments investigating the degree of protection offered by the Panellit pressure gage system to hazards arising from coolant flow reductions to a K process tube.

Abstract: Uranium-bearing coal and carbonaceous shale .of the Rio Bonito formation of Pennsylvanian age have been found in the States of Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The uranium oxide content of the samples collected in the State of Sao Paulo ranges from 0.001 percent to 0.082 percent. The samples collected in Santa Catarina averaged about 0.002 percent uranium oxide; those collected in Rio Grande do Sul, about 0.003 percent uranium oxide. Since the field and laboratory investigations are still in their initial stages, only raw data on the radioactivity and uranium content of Brazilian coals are given in this report.

From foreword: This report concerns remote monitoring of LMFRE facilities.

The masses of the isotopes of the heaviest elements have been calculated from known decay data in the region, extended by means of decay energies calculated from closed decay-energy cycles and estimated from the systematics of alpha and beta decay energies. The absolute values of the masses are based on the mass-spectrometrically determined mass of Pb{sup 208} and a few measured neutron binding energies. The half-life systematics of alpha decay and spontaneous fission are also presented, and some predictions of the properties of as yet undiscovered nuclides are made.

The economiics and physics of four schemes of pIutonium recycle in the Calder Hall type reactor are considered. The four possible schemes are: (I) to blend the Pu produced In a run with fresh naturaI U for a subsequeut run; (2) to alloy the Pu with somie diIuent metal and fabricate the alloy Into high heat- transfer elements morc like MIR or PWR-sced type elements and"spike' a subsequent load of fresh natural U elemients with these Pu elemicnts; (3) to recycle half the spent U as well as the Pu; and (4) to thke advantage of the extra reactivity gained fromi the recyeIed Pu to deerease the Iattice spacIng, thereby increasing the conversion ratio with the hope of increasirg the attaInabIe exposure. It was concluded that schcme (1) is the miost economiical. (W.D.M.)

A series of reactor frequency response measurements, relating flux or power level to a reactivity input function, were made to evaluate reactor stability for different values of power parameters. These parameters included: power level, steam pressure, and control rod position. The results were extrapolated to predict EBWR stability at higher operating powers. The experimental data may also be used to evaluate the thermodynamic and hydraulic constants. (authl

The elementary sieps in the photolysis of liquid ethyl iodide by light of wavelength 2537 A by determining initial rates of iodine production in the presence.of added iodine and hydrogen iodide were analyzed at 25 and --70 d C to get information on the activation energies of competing elementary reaciions. Investigations were also made of the effects of additives on the photolysis of glassy ethyl iodide at --180 d C, and evidence for the formation of trapped radicals during photolysis and radiolysis of the solid was sought by electron paramagnetic resonance measurements. (J.R.D.)

Irradiations were made on a number of uranium-plutonium alloy specimens made from both cast and extruded materials. The cast alloys included alloys of uranium with 3.7, 5.6, and 13.0 wt. % plutonium, and the extruded alloys included alloys of uranium with 9.5, 14.1, and 15.7 wt.% plutonium. One-half of the extruded specimens were given a heat treatment consisting of heating to 545 deg C and cooling to and holding at 500 deg C for one hour in an attempt to remove the preferred orientation that was anticipated from extrusion. The specimens were irradiated to burnups ranging up to 0.54 at. % with central temperatures ranging up to 490 deg C. The cast specimens were all found to have developed severe surface roughening as a result of the irradiation they received, presumably because of excessively large grain sizes present before irradiation. Identically fabricated unalloyed uranium specimens showed similar behavior. The as-extruded alloy specimens maintained good surface smoothness under irradiation, but showed elongations which were dependent on plutonium content. For example, in samples with 0.4 at.% burnup, a 14.1 wt.% plutonium alloy specimen elongated 96%, whereas an 18.7 wt. % plutonium alloy specimen elongated only 5.4%. The heat-treated extruded specimens did not …

The exposure-time for fission fragment catcher foils, used in nuclear reactor power mapping, was arbitrarily set at 20 minutes. Work performed to evaluate this choice and to attempt an optimization of the exposure time is reported. A true optimum was not found. Forty minute runs are suggested, however, as a practical optimization and as an alternative to the 20 minute runs in current usage. (auth)

A preliminary definition of a fabrication process for ferritic stainless steel-UO/sub 2/ fuel clad with Type 430 stainiess steel has been achieved. The procedure is an adaptation of an earlier process for preparing austenitic fuel elements, and consists of the cold-binder extrusion of a plastic powder dispersion which is fired in dry hydrogen, fitted with welded end caps, and electroplated with nickel. This core is inserted into a length of type 430 stainless steel cladding and the assembly is bonded by hot-swaging at 800 C. The irradiation performance of such a fuel element was examined by means of an MTR test. The results of this test strongly indicated that the desired lowering of UO/sub 2/ particle operating temperature was realized and that ferritic stainless steel is not unduly susceptible to irradiation dannage. (auth)

"This report describes studies and analyses made to determine the load-carrying capacities of the pavements at Simmons Army Airfield with respect to various aircraft landing gear assemblies and pavement life categories. The report includes data obtained from design specifications, in-place and laboratory tests performed during construction of the pavements, and in-place and laboratory tests performed for evaluation purposes" (p. 1).

A nitrogen-cooled graphite-moderated nuclear reactor experiment is proposed to drive a closed-cycle gas turbine power plant at 1300 deg F. The annular core of the reactor can be rotated inside the reflector to permit fuel loading and discharge while operating at full power. Small cylindrical fuel elements of graphite are solutionimpregnated with partially enriched uranium. The fuel is recycled by incineration of the elements, chemical fresh graphite tn a small batch process. The unclad, uncoated fuel should permit high burn-up and simple fuel processing, but allows fission product diffusion into the gas stream. While methods are proposed for the removal of these from the gas, the Song-term consequences on turbine operation are unknown. The compatibility of nitrogen gas with the fuel has been studied experimentally. The radial movement of fuel gives a reactor with a constant power profile and no excess reactivity. The temperature is regulated by the fuel charging rate. (auth)

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