Work performed during the quarter is summarized by: direct measurement of fission gas pressure, loop operations, performance of UO2 fuel, UO2 grain growth and melting studies.

"Results of the continuing stratospheric flight test evaluation program for the Del Model I Electrostatic Precipitator Sampler and the Del Electrical Discharge Altimeter are described and discussed. Only one of four balloon launches reached floating altitude. The altimeter obtained an altitude recording consistent with concurrent aneroid barocoder readings. The reported gross gamma concentration for the precipitator sampler was approximates 25 and 80% higher than those of the two simultaneous direct flow filter samples. The completion of the design and construction of two prototype units of the Del Electrical Discharge Altimeter and their laboratory evaluation are described. A preliminary design concept is presented for an operational high volume electrostatic precipitator sampler to operate with high collection efficiency at an ambient flowrate of 500 cfm throughout the altitude range 100,000 to 150,000 ft."

Work performed during the quarter is summarized by direct measurement of fission gas pressure, loop operations, performance of UO2 fuel.

A research program is being conducted to obtain experimental data in the irradiation of plutonium-enriched fuel to confirm a theoretical model for predicting isotopic composition and reactivity changes in plutonium-enriched, light-water-moderated reactors. Quarterly progress: The densitometry procedure (for measurement of alpha autoradiographs of fuel pellets) has been modified to eliminate the need for a second emulsion. The existence of a problem of latent image fading and non-reciprocity of the high-resolution emulsion has been recognized. A tentative procedure has been worked out to correct these emulsion difficulties. the number of polished pellets has been increased to thirteen. The number of hot spots per pellet has not changed appreciably. The largest spot seen is irregular with an estimated volume equivalent to that of a sphere of 35 mil diameter with a PuO2 concentration in the neighborhood of 60%. The VBWR irradiation run now under way is not scheduled to end until October. To the end of the last run the cumulative exposure reached 3703 MWD/T, as logged by VBWR operating personnel. Applying the same scale factor between logged exposure and Ce-Cs analysis of the first fuel sample gives a corrected exposure of 4416 MWD/T. Further debugging of EPITHERMOS, the epithermal extension of …

Work performed during the quarter is summarized by direct measurement of fission gas pressure, loop operations, performance of UO2 fuel.

Work performed during the quarter is summarized by; direct measurement of fission gas pressure, loop operations, performance of UO2 fuel, UO2 grain growth and melting studies.

Introduction: The Transition Boiling Heat Transfer Program is sponsored jointly by the USAEC and Euroatom and is being conducted by the General Electric Company. The work commenced on this program February 11, 1963. The objective of this program is to perform basic investigation and measurement of the transition boiling regime in high pressure bulk boiling water flows, with particular emphasis i the high range of steam qualities.

Abstract: Residual and fission gas release from UO2 were studied in the laboratory and in in-reactor experiments. Arc-fused powder and sintered pellets were used to determine the rate of evolution and types of residual gases as a function of temperature. Fission gas release was related to the average UO2 temperature and fission gas release calculations were made using the latest thermal conductivity values, isotopic half lives, and branching ratios available in the literature. The results obtained were compared with those available in the literature, and a satisfactory agreement was found among the groups of comparable data.

Abstract: (1) Grain growth in UO2 pellets was studies between 100 C and 2600 C. The pellets were encapsulated in small vacuum-tight tungsten containers in an argon atmosphere. (2) The grain size-time relationship could be expressed by an equation. A low exponent, m>_ 1/3, was found in those experiments and is related to the type of UO2 investigated. An activation energy of 65 kcal/mole was obtained for the grain growth process. The time exponent, m, increased with increasing temperature if the pellets were not contained in closed capsules bu heated under an argon pressure of 1.5 atm. (3) An interaction between tungsten and UO2 could be observed at a a temperature of 2600 C after prolonged heat treatment.

From introduction: "This is the sixteenth in a series of quarterly reports which cover the progress and results from the conceptual designs, economic evaluations and research and development work performed by the General Electric Company as part of Contract AT(01-3)-189, Project Agreement No. 13."

Activities in a program to develop techniques in the use of pulsed neutron sources to measure shutdown parameters related to large thermal power reactors are reported. The development of pulsed neutron source techniques for large power reactors has led to a new theoretical model recently developed by E. Garelis and J.L. Russell, Jr. The theory is presently based on a bare, one-group model with m-delayed precursors and takes all spatial modes into account. Results indicate, however, that the application of this model is much broader. Experiments were designed and carried out to both verify this new theory and to demonstrate the performance of the experimental hardware in a large power reactor.

Technical report describing that as part of the AEC Fuel Cycle Program, tests are being conducted to evaluate the significance of current fuel design limitations that do not permit the maximum fuel temperature to exceed the melting point of UO2. The reliability of prediction of the fuel rod operating conditions that will cause melting of the UO2 was evaluated by means of a calibration test conducted in the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor. Conclusions: (a) The central portion of the 3.15-cm diameter uranium dioxide fuel column melted. It appears that the UO2 was molten to a radius of 1.22 cm in the peak power region. The maximum extent of melting probably occurred during the peak power run when the kdT in this region of the rod reached 171 watts cm. The estimated radius of melting from metallographic examination indicates the kdT for sintered UO2 is 89 watts/cm. This supports a calculated estimate for sintered UO2 thermal conductivity published by D. R. deHalas and G. R. Horn. The results of the previous calibration run and subsequent experimental data by Lyons are also consistent with the value. This conclusion is contingent on the interpretation of the post-irradiation crystal structure of the UO2. Insufficient …

From introduction: "This is the seventeenth in a series of quarterly reports which cover the progress and results from the conceptual designs, economic evaluations and research and development work performed by the General Electric Company as part of Contract AT(01-3)-189, Project Agreement No. 13."

From introduction: "Development of nuclear reactor cores having high power density, long fuel life, and low fabrication costs is the objective of this program sponsored by the AEC."

Summary: A prototype control rod containing absorber plates made from an electro- deposited dispersion of boron carbide in nickel was tested in the VBWR. It was exposed to the reactor environment of 545 degree F boiling water and thermal neutron fluxes (perturbed) which ranged from 0.6 to 1.1 x 10/sup 13/ nv for 2236 hours over a period of six months. The maximum B/sup 10/ burnup achieved during the test period was 1.8 percent. After irradiation, the rod was examined. The results of the examination are summarized below: (1) The B/sub 4/C-- Ni plate assembly did not undergo significant dimensional changes during irradiation. (2) Numerous blisters developed on both the outer and inner surfaces of three of the four plates. Blistering was more severe on the outer surface than on the inner, and was most severe in a large region located in the lower half of plate 4. Metallographic examination revealed that the blisters were located only in the 2- mil protective nickel overlay covering the B/sub 4/C-- Ni dispersion. It was concluded that they formed from the buildup of gas pressure at the Ni: Ni-- B/sub 4/C interfaces, rather than from corrosion attack. Helium from the B/sup 10/(n alpha …

A research program is being conducted to obtain experimental data in the irradiation of plutonium-enriched fuel to confirm a theoretical model for predicting isotopic composition and reactivity changes in plutonium-enriched, light-water-moderated reactors. All program efforts have been temporarily deferred except for those associated with the irradiation of the program fuel element in the VBWR. The program fuel element was exposed to a burnup of 831 MWD/T during the quarter which brings the total to 3165 MWD/T. Applying the same scale factor between logged exposure and Ce-Cs analysis of the first fuel sample gives a corrected exposure of 3774 MWD/T.

Activities in a program to develop techniques in the use of pulsed neutron sources to measure shutdown parameters related to large thermal power reactors are reported. The development of pulsed neutron source techniques for large power reactors has led to a new theoretical model recently developed by E. Garelis and J.L. Russell, Jr. The theory is presently based on a bare, one-group model with m-delayed precursors and takes all spatial modes into account. Results indicate, however, that the application of this model is much broader. Experiments were designed and carried out to both verify this new theory and to demonstrate the performance of the experimental hardware in a large power reactor.

Project Sherwood is a nation-wide attempt to produce a controlled thermo-nuclear fusion reaction. The Astron experiment, conceived by Nicholas Christofilos, will utilize the effects of a cylindrical layer of relativistic electrons to contain and heat the plasma. A high quality, 200-ampere, 5-Me V electron beam is required to form the electron layer. The electron beam is produced by a linear induction electron accelerator. Three hundred and thirty-three toroidal cores of magnetic material surround an evacuated ceramic accelerating column. The electrons are accelerated by the transverse electric field produced by the changing flux. The magnetic cores are tape-wound toroids of .001", 50% Ni - 50% Fe. Two hundred eighty-eight cores are 24" o.d. x 8-1/2" i. d. x 1/2" thick and the remaining forty-five are 33" o. d. x 18" i. d. x 1/2" thick. Each core is required to support 16 kG for 0.4 psec. The choice of magnetic material was made by testing all available material for the required parameters. Results of these tests are presented.

From introduction: "This is the fifteenth in a series of quarterly reports which cover the progress and results from the conceptual designs, economic evaluations and research and development work performed by the General Electric Company as part of Contract AT(01-3)-189, Project Agreement No. 13."

In the fall of 1961 an extensive program of investigation of high energy p-p interactions was begun at the Brookhaven AGS. The BNL 20" liquid hydrogen bubble chamber and an electrostatically separated beam were used to obtain a total (to date) of 300,000 exposure with about 15 antiprotons per pulse. The exposures were made at antiproton momenta of 3.25 Bev/c and 3.69 Bev/c in the laboratory. Approximately 80% of the exposures were made 3.69 Bev/c antiprotons. A wide variety of reactions occur in these collisions. Some of these such as elastic scattering, pion production, and associated production of hyperons and K-mesons have analogues in p-p collisions. The similarities and differences between the p-p and p-p results can usually be understood in a qualitative way and in some cases quantitative comparison with theory has been possible. The annihilation reactions leading to final states containing pions alone or pions with K-mesons are unique to the nucleon-antinucleon system as are the reactions in which a hyperon, anti-hyperon pair is produced. In the following, we report the principal characteristics of proton-antiproton reactions. Although the scope of this paper is comprehensive it is not a definitive report of the experiment as much of the work …

Buckling measurements at BNL have employed two experimental methods which in principle should yield identical results but in practice show a systematic and significant discrepancy. In this paper the experimental evidence of these errors is reviewed and their source is traced by means of theory to the radial flux transients which perturb the asymptotic neutron spectrum in the exponential assemblies. Some alternate and apparently more precise methods of analyzing the data are examined theoretically, including the possibility of anisotropy in the leakage probability.

Since the discovery of the Straub and Feuer as well as Laki et al. that ATP bound to G-actin is transformed to ADP and inorganic phosphate during polymerization of actin (1, 2), it has become increasingly clear that the chemical changes in the nucleotide are related to the change in the physical state of the protein. Barany, Biro, Molnar and Straub have shown that highly purified actin preparation free of any enzyme which would use ATP, ADP or AMP as a substrate still catalyze the breakdown of ATP (3) thus supporting the original idea that the ATP to ADP transformation is related to the globular to fibrous transformation of the actin protein itself. Mommaerts was the first to show that the ADP formed during polymerization remains bound to F-actin and Ulbrecht et al. while extending Mommaert's finding on exhaustively purified actin preparations have shown that the P1 formed during polymerization is not bound to F-actin. The stoichiometry of the splitting and the tightness of binding of the ADP lead inevitably to questions in regard to the position of bond breaking during the hydrolysis and to the nature of the forces involved in the tight binding of ADP to F-actin. To …

We wish to report unequivocal evidence for the water promoted, aluminum chloride induced intramolecular rearrangement of the benzene rings in diphenyl. When diphenyl 1→1,1'-C14, prepared in 80% yield via an Ullmann reaction on iodobenzene-1-C1 14, was heated to 100° for 30 min. with 10 mole % of aluminum chloride and 1 mole % of water, the radioactivity, originally localized at the two connecting carbons had been randomly distributed. Recovered active diphenyl was also shown to be randomized when the reaction was carried out for 12 hrs. in a refluxing benzene solution. The degradation method used is outlined in Fig. 1. The view that the reaction in intramolecular is supported by the following facts: (1) The inactive benzene used in the solvent experiments was devoid of activity at the end of a run within the precision of our assay methods. A rearrangement carried out with inactive diphenyl in benzene-1-C- 14 yielded diphenul having an activity indicating less than 0.001% intermolecularity.

In early 1961 a Target Fabrication Center was established at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to carry out the routine preparation of a wide variety of targets and to provide research and development support to the target program. Although most of the effort concerned enriched stable isotopes, both normal and radioactive materials are also handled. With the aid of rolling mills, resistance-heat and electron-bombardment vacuum evaporation, presses, and electroplating equipment, targets of elements and compounds are prepared which cover a broad range of thicknesses and sizes, in both supported and self-supporting forms. Thicknesses vary from a few micro-inches to dimensions limited in many cases only by the amount of material available. Although there are certain limitations imposed by the chemical reactivity, the development effort is supporting targets of most elements and compounds.