This quarterly progress report discusses the ongoing work within the Solid State Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the period ending August 10, 1952. Projects discussed include radiation metallurgy, engineering properties, fused salts, crystal physics, and solid state reactions.

The following report describes the investigations of the microwave solution and the Astron solution, to produce high current electron beams.

The following report presents neutron-flux measurements made with a concentric-cylinder element (Mark II) and includes axial, radial, and peripheral flux distributions.

Technical report outlining experiments on aluminum-lithium alloys. From Abstract: "Aluminum-lithium alloys are subject to precipitation from solid solution, and may be age hardened by the same techniques used for more common aluminum alloys. Spherical particles of precipitate were observed with the electron microscope in 1.5% and 2.8% Al-Li alloys after aging for times comparable to those required to produce maximum hardness. Rod-shaped particles that were oriented parallel to either the (110) or the (111) planes of the aluminum matrix were observed in overaged specimens."

This report is a comparative cost study of radioactive waste disposal for the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (UCRL). In particular, it compares the costs of sea disposal in depths of 1000 fathoms and of 2000 fathoms off the California coast with land burial of the wastes at the Hanford Atomic Products Operation (HAPO), Richland, Washington, at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS), Idaho Falls, Idaho, or at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. In the comparison, the cost of utilizing a commercial waste-disposal firm is also shown as well as a tentative cost of using the Military Sea Transport Service (MSTS).

An inventory of the contaminated materials accumulated since the initiation of this project in June 1958, revealed a larger variety and quantity of materials that could be burned, than was specified for the initial scope. Therefore, it is desirable to revise the scope to permit handling the majority of these materials with the initially installed equipment.

The chemical processing industry relies heavily on the use of rotary pumps to move massive quantities of liquids. The rotating elements of these pumps, generally of the deep-well turbine type, are submerged in the solution being pumped. This singular factor sometimes imposes a severe limitation on the choice bearings because the liquids are frequently corrosive and have poor lubricity. At the Hanford Atomic Products Operation a further complication arises from the effects of radioactivity in the solutions being transferred. Radiation and temperature can and will cause physical damage to many substances, including certain potential bearing materials such as plastics. These factors, coupled with the economics of remote operation and maintenance, have lead to the need for a test program to screen and evaluate potential bearing and journal materials.

The moderator fluid will be injected into the PRTR calandrin through injectors located between the shroud tubes and at the bottom of the calandrin. It is important that the size and arrangement of the injectors be such that complete mixing of the moderator will occur and prevent hot sports from forming in the moderator. Such hot spots could lead to undesired changes in the moderating characteristics due to boiling within the moderator. Also of importance is the requirement that the injector should not produce excessive turbulence at the moderator surface thereby complicating moderator level control. To determine the extent of moderator mixing within the calandrin, experimental studies were made employing a full scale PRTR calandrin mockup.

A knowledge of the surface tension of metals is a valuable tool in many aspects of physical metallurgy. Surface tension is a prime factor in such phenomena as swelling, nucleation and growth, and corrosion by liquid metals, and is also of importance in brazing. casting, and sintering. This survey was initiated to facilitate the selection of an experimental technique for determining the surface tension of uranium in support of current swelling studies of irradiated uranium. It is believed that swelling in uranium in support of current swelling; studies of small bubbles of fission gases (krypton and xenon), and the forces resisting the expansion of these bubbles are the elastic and plastic flow energies and surface tension of the metal. Experimental techniques for the determination of surface tension of solids are still in the development stage, but three techniques appear to be most feasible. These methods are: (1) the mechanical method, in which a tensile lead is used to counterbalance the contractile force of surface tension; (2) the thermal etching method, involving measurement of the dihedral angle at the root of etched grain boundaries; and (3) the electron diffraction method, which analyzes surface tension by the amount of lattice distortion it …

Two Zircaloy-clad capsules (GKH-14-19,20) containing two compacts each of high density PuO2-UO2 mixed crystal oxides were shipped to the MTR in December 2, 1958. The compacts contain 0.026 a/o PuO2, have densities of 91 percent of the theoretical value, and will generate the same specific power as an Al-1.8w/o Pu alloy rod of the same diameter would produce. Two capsules (GKH-14-21,22) have been prepared and contain three compacts each of low density, about 65 percent of the theoretical value, PuO2-UO2 mixed crystal oxides. It is tentatively planned to ship the last two capsules during January 1959.

The solids in Purex lww were first observed during flowsheet tests for recovery of fission products from plant wastes. Since the nature of this solid was not apparent from the flowsheet composition of lww, some work was performed to characterize this material. Although this work has been conducted over a period of about one year, it has been subordinate to the main one of testing flowsheets for fission product recovery. The solids have been observed in each of about six samples of plant lww that have been studied, and the centrifuged volume of solids has been about four percent in each case.

The discharge of cooling water from the Hanford reactors introduce radioactive contaminants to the Columbia River. These materials may subsequently bring about exposure to human populations either through the direct use of the water for sanitary purposes or transfers of the radioisotopes into the food chains. It is therefore desirable to keep to a minimum the amounts of radioisotopes released to the river.

Plutonium metal can be injected into cold metal molds to form castings with thin walls. The operation is performed in a vacuum chamber, using an inert gas as the injecting medium. Sound pieces free of gas cavities can be made using either pure or delta-stabilized plutonium. This report describes the equipment and techniques used to cast a typical thin section piece in the form of a 6 in. diameter, 45' cone.

A program for determining the behavior of concrete shear keys under dynamic loading similar to that encountered in nuclear blasts was coupled with a study of the comparative behavior of shear keys under static loading. The testing procedure gave deflection recording for the shear keys, their strength in pure shear, under transverse compression and when dowelled, stresses and strains in the embedded dowels, and the mode of failure of each specimen. From an analysis of the data obtained and a study of the combined direct and transverse stresses involved, important qualitative conclusions were drawn from the common trends in the behavior of keys. The tests proved that plain concrete keys can withstand stresses in pure shear as high as 2000 p.s.i. or more, that imposing transverse compression on them raises the ratio of their shear strength to compressive strength by about 50% in dynamic loading though by only about 5% in static loading, and that the keys exhibit much higher shear strength when subjected to dynamic loads than when stressed by static loads. The test also indicated that the strength and quality of the gravel are probably major factors governing the strength of the keys.

The need for thermal and fast neutron fluxes in the range of 1 to 5 x l0/ sup 15/ neutrons/cm/sup 2/(sec) for the production of heavy elements such as Cf/ sup 252/ and other special isotopes and for improving the quality of beam experiments, reactor materials testing work, and solid state research has led to plans for the construction of three ultra high flux research reactors. The designs of these and other high flux research reactors are based on the general technology of enriched tank-type reactors; however, they utilize the principle of separate fuel and moderator regions to achieve flux peaking in these regions. Thus, proposed designs take the form of an annular fuel region with internal and external moderating regions or an under moderated core with an external moderator or reflector. In such arrangements, the thermal flux peaks in the moderating regions and the fast flux peaks in the fuel region, which results in maximum fast and thermal fluxes per unit of power. Since most of the moderation of fast neutrons takes place outside of the fuel region, the thermal flux peaking depends on the number of fast neutrons leaking from the reactor core, which in turn depends on …