As the result of repeated over tolerance monitoring samples taken by H.I. Survey in Room 7 of 2228 Bldg., 200 East Area, an Industrial Hygiene study of the air contamination in this room has been made at the request of the H.I. Area Supervisor. Observations made during the preliminary survey and throughout the study indicate that the ventilation system together with the decontamination operations; slurping operation, Goldberg operation, and certain activities during bench determination of process examples, are the major contributors to contamination in the room. While it is felt that the major sources of contamination have been pointed out, there are many specific operations that have not been studies. Recommendations include: Replace the air supply grills with air diffusers, so that air will be supplied to the laboratory without drafts; Provide hoods over the decontamination sinks large enough to accommodate all manipulations involved in decontamination procedures and with sufficient exhaust ventilation that will maintain a minimum face velocity of 200fpm; Provide a hood over the slurper, larger enough to accommodate all manipulations, and ventilation to maintain a minimum of 200fpm at the hood face and any other openings; Provide an enclosure over the Goldberg such that positive exhaust ventilation …

It is desirable to place laboratory instruments in static storage so that they may be put into operation with only normal servicing. Such instruments may be subject to many forms of deterioration. There may be deterioration of metal parts due to chemical and electrolytic corrosion and the effects of moisture, excessive dryness, and microorganisms, i.e., mildew on organic parts. To preserve such instruments without disassembly or troublesome surface coatings, requires methods that will remove the major cause of deterioration - that is, excessive humidity, by reducing and maintaining the relative humidity of the air surrounding the item at 30 per cent or less. It is also necessary to eliminate or separate hygroscopic materials from the item since they will cause corrosion, by surface adsorption and condensation, even though a dry atmosphere is maintained. The methods and materials used must not only be efficient and economical but also require a minimun of maintenance, Protection against physical damage and temperature extremes is dependent upon the storage site and is not considered in this report.

The first attempt to discover spontaneous fission in uranium was made by Libby, who, however, failed to detect it on account of the smallness of effect. In 1940, Petrzhak and Flerov, using more sensitive methods, discovered spontaneous fission in uranium and gave some rough estimates of the spontaneous fission decay constant of this substance. Subsequently, extensive experimental work on the subject has been performed by several investigators and will be quoted in the various sections. Bohr and Wheeler have given a theory of the effect based on the usual ideas of penetration of potential barriers. On this project spontaneous fission has been studied for the past several years in an effort to obtain a complete picture of the phenomenon. For this purpose the spontaneous fission decay constants {lambda} have been measured for separated isotopes of the heavy elements wherever possible. Moreover, the number {nu} of neutrons emitted per fission has been measured wherever feasible, and other characteristics of the spontaneous fission process have been studied. This report summarizes the spontaneous fission work done at Los Alamos up to January 1, 1945. A chronological record of the work is contained in the Los Alamos monthly reports.

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