There were seven charges of metal inspected during the month for corrosion and blistering studies. There were no unusual cases of blistering noted and the corrosion rates were normal for this time of year. Borescopic examination of the graphite packing around the ``B`` Hole in the F Pile revealed that the graphite is no more severely cracked than in the D Pile when it was inspected about a year ago. Examination of the graphite at the downstream and of Tube 1385-D did not indicate that any damage had been done by the leak in that tube. Forty one tubes have been charged in the F Pile on Production Test 105-90-P, ``Exposure of TX Metal Slugs.`` The routine job of taking vertical bowing measurements was turned over to the Instrument Department after working with them once in each Area. Installation of Van Stone test units was completed and a brief run was started. Van Stone flanges at both ends of 64 process tubes in both the B and F Piles were measured with a micrometer to determine the minimum amount of metal remaining.

None

When uranium is purified by the ether extraction method, black oxide is dissolved in nitric acid and ether is added; an ether layer containing uranium and an aqueous layer containing uranium and impurities are obtained. The distribution of some impurities between the two phases and the effect of such impurities on the extraction process were studied. the processing required in the preparation of pure uranyl nitrate might be decreased if, instead of uranosic oxide, sodium diuranate was used as a source of uranium. If it is assumed that uranosic oxide contains the same amounts of impurities as sodium diuranate, with the exception of soda, the extraction of soda by the wash of an ether solution of nitrate prepared from diuranate would be the criterion of suitability of sodium diuranate. The distribution and effect of sodium in the extraction process was therefore investigated, and the results are described in this report. For various of the impurities, the distribution in the process and the effect on uranium holdup in the insoluble cake was investigated. Particular attention was given to the behavior of boron, vanadium, chromium, and molybdenum.