This document details activities of the Hanford Laboratories Operation during the month of March 1959. (FI)

An analysis was made of the fission-gas-release incident during the pressure pumpdown of the AE-6 Reactor resulting in the contamination of the reactor room and members of the operating staff. Descriptions are given of the normal core pumping procedures, procedural alterations during the incident, the discovery of the contamination and its possible causes, and the remedial actions taken. Steps taken to minimize the chance of the occurrence of the contamination in the future are listed. (B.O.G.)

The thermal expansions of commercial uranium dioxide specimens were measured up to the melting point. The linear expansion of dense, normal grain size UO/sub 2/ follows closely the equationi L = L/sub 0/(1 + 6.0 x 10/sup -6/t + 2.0 x 10/sup -9/t/sup 1.7 x 10/sup -12/t/sup 3/). An anomalous expansion was noted in the temperature range 1000 to 1500 deg C. Above 2500 deg C the rapid vaporization and crystal growth of UO/sub 2/ necessitate the application of heating techniques which provide rapid heating and quenching in order to obtain reliable data. The use of solar and arcmelting furnaces for this type of measurement is described. (auth)

disintegrating a corrosion scale from stainless steel systems without attacking the stainless steel. In this investigation particular sample of stainless steel corrosion scale appeared to be disintegrated most effectively in a solution of the trisodium salt of N-hydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetic acid (Versenol) and ammonium acetate. In a subsequent test with this solution in a REED dynamic Ioop a considerable disintegration of scale from the loop was observed. in this test after a period of approximately 60 hours, the iron content in the solution was found to be 10 g per liter; thus indicating that the mixture of Versenol and ammonium acetate can be used to disintegrate partially the corrosion scale from a stainless steel system. (auth)

Electrical resistivity data for metals which are likely to be resistance heated in heat-transfer tests were compiled and are given as a function of temperature. (auth)