Collection of reports on Death Valley, the bordering region of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. Reports include birds, reptiles and Batrachians, fishes, insects, mollusks, trees and shrubs, cactuses and yuccas, and list of localities in the reports.

From Summary: "The report includes a description of the commonly used types and some others, the underlying principle utilized in the design, and some design data. The inherent errors of the instrument, the methods of making laboratory tests, descriptions of the test apparatus, and data in considerable detail in the performance of commonly used instruments are presented. Standard instruments and, in cases where it appears to be of interest, those used as secondary standards are described."

Technical report with short reports from the (1) Physics Section I; (2) Physics Section II ; and (3) Physics Section III.

This report for May, 1947 describes progress regarding analytical work, chemical work, beta-counting methods of analysis, ore-dressing and pyrometallurgical studies, and pyrometallurgical work.

From Summary: "A review of the status of the knowledge on turbine-blade cooling and a description of pertinent NACA investigations are presented. The current limitations in performance of uncooled and cooled engines are briefly discussed. Finally, the knowledge available and investigations to increase the knowledge on heat transfer, cooling-flow, and performance characteristics of cooled turbines are discussed."

"Free-flight tests have been made to determine the drag at zero lift of several configurations of a missile having triangular wings and tails. Base-pressure measurements were also obtained for some of the configurations. The results show that increasing the wing thickness ratio from 4 to 6 percent increased the wing drag by about 100 percent at M = 1.3 and by about 30 percent at M = 1.8" (p. 1).

The following report describes a chemical procedure to analyze fission products and long-lived rare earths in both untreated urine samples and the supernates from the precipitation steps in the TTA procedure for plutonium.

Report discussing a performance evaluation of the Thermal Test Unit, a piece of test equipment fabricated to "aid the Hanford Works in experimentally determining heat transfer characteristics for a particular application."

Simple expression are derived for the time dependence of slowing down of neutrons in a simple media. In Section I, a method suggested by age theory is used, while in section II, a two parameter scattering function is employed. Results are compared with exact calculations.

From introduction: This report details the conceptual design of a 100 kw gas cooled reactor power plant of the type that would satisfy the electrical and space heating load of the Air Force distant early warning stations and might find application at other remote bases.

The purpose of this report is to present a conceptual design study on a low power electrical and heat generating plant powered by nuclear energy. The nuclear reactor used in this study is the homogeneous circulating fuel type.

For a body consisting of a fineness-ratio-3 ogival nose tangent to a cylindrical afterbody 7.3 diameters long, pitot-pressure distributions in the flow field, pressure distributions over the body, and downwash distributions along a line through the vortex centers have been measured for angles of attack to 20 degrees. The Reynolds numbers, based on body diameter, were 0.15 x 10 to the 6th power and 0.44 x 10 to the 6th power. Comparisons of computed and measured vortex paths and downwash distributions are made. (author).

Memorandum presenting the Bell X-5 variable-sweep research airplane tested primarily at 58.7 degrees sweepback to determine the characteristics at transonic speeds of a fighter-type airplane with extreme sweepback. Some of the dynamic and static lateral stability characteristics have been discussed previously. Results regarding the lateral control, roll coupling, lateral problems at high lift, wing dropping, rudder oscillation at supersonic Mach numbers, and some pilots' impressions are also provided.

Report presenting the heat transfer and pressures on the lifting surfaces of a 60 degree delta wing with NACA 65A005 profile at angles of attack up to 9 degrees. Results obtained are compared to values obtained from flat-plate theory.

Report presenting an investigation conducted by means of preflight and flight tests to determine the performance of a 50-percent-magnesium 50-percent JP-4 slurry fuel in a twin-engine ramjet test vehicle. Data were obtained over a range of Mach numbers. Although a successful flight test was carried out, the performance obtained from preflight testing was below theoretical values.

Report summarizing research on the strength and creep of aircraft structural elements and components at elevated temperatures. Experimental data for aluminum alloy columns, plates, stiffened panels, and multiweb box beams are presented for temperatures up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit and compared with results predicted from materials data.

Calculations indicate that it is impossible, even at high oxygen injection rates, to insure an excess of oxygen in the HRT fuel solution if the bubble letdown rate is more than 1 or 2 liters per minute. If, on the other hand, no bubbles are allowed to form, a reasonable excess oxygen concentration can be maintained with an oxygen injection rate which would not tax the capacity of the off-gas system. The xenon poison will be reduced to less than 2% by liquid letdown alone, and if an iodine absorption bed is installed below the catalytic recombiner, the xenon poison should be less than 1% without any bubble letdown. Therefore, it is recommended that sufficient copper be added to prevent the formation of gas bubbles and that the oxygen injection rate be limited to a value which would permit adequate holdup times in the present charcoal adsorption beds, assuming this quantity is sufficient to meet corrosion requirements.

Introduction. The phase diagram data reported in this paper were obtained during an investigation of the beryllium-metal compounds of the titanium group transition elements. Several compounds in these systems had been previously reported but their compositions and structures were not all known. In the course of this study many details of the phase diagrams of the system were observed. Tentative diagrams consistent with this data will be presented.

Report describing ongoing progress made at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Thermonuclear Division.

From introduction: This report covers the results of a study of a mobile irradiator for fruit grown in California.

From abstract: "In this paper the motion of a nucleus with an intrinsic quadrupole moment in an external electrostatic field gradient is discussed from a classical point of view. It is shown that in the classical approximation the angular momentum may precess about the direction of strongest field gradient or about the direction of intermediate field gradient, but not about the direction of weakest field gradient. The classical precession frequencies are found to be related to the quantum mechanical dipole transition frequencies."

From introduction: The purpose of this survey was to document the pre-event and post-event condition of all existing surface facilities within a 10-mile radius of ground zero for Project GNOME.

Abstract. the direct and inert-gas radiolysis, as well as the vacuum ultra-violet photolysis of CD3CH2CD3, CH3CD2CH3 and C3H2+C3D3 mixtures have been investigated in the presence of radical scavengers. The major conclusions are : (a) at atmospheric pressures, neutral propane decomposition contributes to the observed products although to a lesser extent than parent ion decompositions ; (b) a variation in pressure has a pronounced effect on the fragmentation of the parent ion ; (c) the hydrogen atoms in the ethyl ion are randomized in the direct as well as in the inert-gas sensitized radiolysis ; (d) rearrangement in the parent ion is of minor importance in the radiolysis ; (e) although the formation of propylene is related to the propyl ion, it is not necessarily produced by the neutralization of this ion.

This technical report describes the development, design, operation, and performance of a full-circle, radial-vane steam separator for the boiling water section of a nuclear superheat reactor. Steam-water tests of this model have demonstrated that is has vane capacity in excess of that required for the 300-Mx(e) separate superheat reactor and for the 300-Mw mixed spectrum superheat reactor. It is proposed that the vane capacity requirement of the 600 Mw(e) separate superheat reactor may be attained by increasing the nozzle length.