Abstract: "Aluminum-clad nickel-plated uranium is corrosion resistant in boiling water. Samples with intentional defects in the aluminum-nickel clodding layers, after testing for more than 300 hr. showed no sign of rapid failure. The study of electroplated metals on uranium for aluminum cladding has defined the effects of several processing variables on the corrosion resistance. The quality of the uranium and the quality of the aluminum-nickel bond were important. Heat treatment and vacuum outgassing of the nickel-plated uranium prior to aluminum cladding were beneficial, and minimizing the amount of air present in the hot-press assembly was desirable. Variation in the steps for electroplating on uranium did not affect the corrosion resistance of aluminum-clad uranium."

Introduction: "The uranium-5 w/o chromium alloy has been intensively investigated for use in a power reactor in the as-cast condition. However, when cast sample fuel elements were subjected to irradiation, their stability was found to be unsatisfactory. In order to improve the behavior of the alloy, a program of grain refinement by heat treatment was begun. The effect of chill casting on the heat-treated grain size was also investigated."

The following report follows an investigation made to determine the composition of uranium-rich ternary eutectic alloys most suitable for reactor application in the as-cast condition. These determinations were made based metallographic examination and thermal analysis of as-cast alloys.

Abstract: "The shock-tube experiments of Professor R. G. Fowler and his co-workers at the University of Oklahoma, and of Professor Arthur Kantrowits and his group at Cornell University, are reported by the author, who visited the laboratories of the two groups. Fowler's group has studied expanding low-pressure sparks; Kantrowits and his group have studied shocks produced by the adiabatic expansion of a compressed gas."

Abstract: "A cylindrical coil has been designed for pulsed field operation suitable for use in a model thermonuclear reactor. The coil has an eight-inch inside diameter and a length of fifty-one inches. Magnetic mirrors at the ends consist of double-layer solenoids six and one-half inches long designed to slip over the main coil. Subsequent models of this coil have been fabricated which improved the electrical insulation provided by the bonding materials and the mechanical rigidity of the coil. Peak central fields of fifteen kilogauss and mirror fields of thirty kilogauss have been obtained."

The purpose of this report is to present a conceptual design study on a low power electrical and heat generating plant powered by nuclear energy. The nuclear reactor used in this study is the homogeneous circulating fuel type.

A knowledge of the mechanical and physical properties of uranium is important in understanding and explaining its pile behavior. The effects of irradiation on the properties of uranium will be dealt with in another chapter. However, it is important to know and understand the pre-irradiation properties of uranium prior to investigating the effects of irradiation.

Bench scale studies have been made of the recovery of uranium from acid leach liquors (and slurries) by solvent extracting with di (2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid in an organic diluent. Uranium may be stripped from the organic solvent by either alkaline or acidic reagents, the former having been studied in greater detail. On the basis of these tests, a recovery process may be considered which shows promise both from the standpoint of operation and chemical costs. Under proper conditions, vanadium can also be extracted by the di (2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid and stripping again may be accomplished with either acidic or alkaline reagents. Preliminary studies have been made of these possibilities. In addition to di (2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid, some other organophosphorus acids, have been cursorily examined in respect to their extraction and/or stripping performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the theory and results of chemical exchange experiments for separation of heavy metal isotopes. The aim is to find a means of predicting those chemical exchange systems likely to produce large isotopic separation factors.

The purpose of this report is to present the information obtained relative to the characteristic adsorption of radioisotopes in a long (forty feet) laboratory soil column treated with a high salt, process waste of high activity density. The movement of adsorbed cations in a soil column subjected to prolonged leeching by water also was determined.

The erection of a concrete biological shield at Hanford, Washington presented several unique construction problems. This shield encloses the radioactive core of a reactor and is designed to protect operating personnel from the harmful effects of pile neutrons and associated gamma radiation. Permanent steel forms were erected to close tolerance around the reactor and filled with high density concrete by means of prepacked method. Prefabricated sections of the steel forms, or crates, were five to eight feet deep and weighed up to 18 tons each. During erection, the process holes through successive crates were kept within 0.012 in. of their nominal distance. The left side, top shield, and right side of this biological shield were constructed integrally to form a rigid frame. The front and rear crates, which contain numerous process holes, were keyed into the side and top shields so as to permit relative expansions of shield components and to provide for their lateral support. These massive steel and concrete walls provide considerable resistance to blast and earthquake forces, support numerous process facilities, contain pile gas, as well as protect personnel from nuclear radiation.

Metallographic examination of an irradiated powder metal uranium slug from PT-313-105-4M⁽¹⁾ was undertaken primarily as an evaluation of recently remotized metallographic equipment. It was, also, proposed to compare the grain size with values obtained ultrasonically on the same slug. It was further proposed to make a comparison, so far as limited data permitted, of post-irradiated powder metal uranium grain size with that to be expected from normal uranium similarly irradiated.

This report describes the evaluation of physical properties of AGHT and 185-W graphites that are important to pile construction and operation. On the basis of these data, purified AGHT graphite was allocated to either filler block positions in the central regions of the K piles or to the upper or lower reflectors. This decision was based on the similarities of physical properties between AGHT graphite and the other moderator components. A similar allocation could be made for 185-W graphite for some future pile if it can be successfully purified or if purification is not required.

Two methods for calculating the *reduction in η due to spectral hardening have been used. In the first method it is assumed that the absorption cross section of U-238 is l/v. This indicates no change in η within the error of the calculation. In the second it is assumed that the scattering cross section of uranium is constant. A decrease in η of 3.0% at the centerline of the slug is indicated by this calculation. The assumption U-238 is a l/v absorber is regarded as the most reasonable of the two.

The conversion of UNH to UF4 and UF6, utilizing moving-bed techniques, is being studied; sufficient progress has been made that an evaluation of the process is warranted. The procedures under study, the Fluorox Process, have three major advantages: (1) substitution of HF for high-cost fluorine, (2) considerable reduction in HF requirements, and (3) marked reduction in plant-size and mechanical complexity.

New systems involving the exchange of boron between boron trifluoride and boron trifluoride addition compounds have been explored. These systems have large separation factors and potentially simple reflux mechanisms. A precise determination of this separation factor for the anisole-boron trifluoride system gave the value (see report). Boron exchange was found to occur between BF and BCl3. Several homogenous catalysts have been found which activate the hydrogen-water exchange, but none are adoptable to the production of deuterium because of the slow exchange rate. Platinum or platinum oxide may be usable as a heterogeneous catalyst with proper support or dispersion techniques. The high-pressure solubility of hydrogen in several amalgams was investigated in connection with a unique countercurrent exchange system. A proposed system involving isotopic exchange between lithium dipivaloylmethane in diethyl ether and lithium hydroxide in aqueous solution was shown to give little or no isotopic separation. Column studies of the carbonate system exchange reaction were concluded with a 40°C run. Slightly higher enrichment of N15 was obtained than at 30°C . The temperature dependence of all in this system was measured between 15 and 45°C. The factor increases with temperature, showing a tendency toward a maximum near 45°C. Isotopic exchange appears to …

The development of ionic methods for the determination of corrosion products in the highly radioactive Homogeneous Reactor (HR) fuels has been of major interest in the work of the Ionic Analyses Laboratory. Methods for the spectrophotometric determination of aluminum and for the polarographic determination of iron in HR fuels have been developed. The polarographic determination of molybdenum in uranyl sulfate solutions was studied. A polarographic method for the determination of zinc was developed. A fluorometric method for the determination of microgram amounts of fluoride was studied. Three organic reagents were investigated as precipitants for microgram quantities of zirconium in HR fuel. The automatic photometric titration technique was applied to the determination of thorium and of sulfate. A method was developed for the ionexchange separation and potentiometric titration of cobalt. The ultraviolet absorption spectra of technetium and rhenium were studied.

In this document, simple modes are used to demonstrate the importance of different material effects on predicted material behavior. This document should help one understand the basic assumptions made in stress analysis.

A study of the fabrication failures for zirconium and zircaloy-2 process tubes was made. In the tube reducing operation, a non-uniform reduction in area for the cross section was found to be a major cause of failure. In annealing studies, a cycle of 2 hours at 820 deg C in vacuum followed by furnace cooling produced the greatest ductility of extruded zircaloy-2 for the annealing treatments studied. The ductility of cold worked and annealed zircaloy-2 was found to be superior to that of extruded and annealed material. The strain rate of a cold working process was found to affect the ductility of zircaloy-2.

This report is a survey of methods for determining trace amounts of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide in air. The methods are evaluated in relation to their applicability to continuous monitoring procedures for these substances in stack gas and in air for human consumption.

A large (size 2) Purex pulse generator was installed in the 321 Building Tan Farm to pulse solutions in the prototype Purex HA Column. Flow sheet considerations indicated a need for information on leakage rates with various size weep holes in the pulse generator piston. In addition to leakage tests, experiments were conducted to determine the air required under the piston to hold the column contents away from the pulse generator piston thereby preventing leakage during shut down and the determine the time required to bleed the air trapped in the pulse leg when the column is first filled. [...] Leakage past the piston was not appreciably affected by pulse frequency. [..] Bleeding the air out of the pulse leg under start-up conditions, even with the piston weep hole plugged, was rapid. The longest time required to bleed the pulse leg was 36 minutes, which included a column-filling time of 30 minutes.

The effects of variables on the rate of Purex solvent deterioration were investigated with the emphasis on those deterioration products which cannot be removed by carbonate washing. The deterioration rate was found to be directly proportional to the acid and nitrate ion concentrations, and proportional to the square root of the concentration of nitrite ion. Other observations on the effects of temperature, relative merits of brand name solvents, and the effects of radiation are included. A method of calculating the equilibrium level of the solvent deterioration products based on study conclusions and various estimates is outlined.

A generalization of the Fermi-Thomas model for application of mixtures. This study attempts to determine the equation of state of water up to pressure of 10,000 megabars and temperatures of several thousand electron-volts.

A comparison of the simple impact theories of line broadening by electrons with the detailed computations of Kivel, Bloom, and Margenau.