Over the past ten years, there has been considerable interest and expenditure on the recovery of ionium (thorium-230) from certain residues accumulated from the World War II uranium process at St. Louis, Missouri. Most of these efforts were reported in the classified literature. However, an unclassified report was issued recently by the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works on the plant design for ionium recovery. A review of the earlier efforts shows that consideration of ionium recovery was limited to the St. Louis residues. At that time the development of a substantial U. S. uranium ore milling industry had not yet been achieved.

A disposal method is needed for wastes generated from the decontamination of the NPR primary coolant loop. The limitations imposed by facilities design criteria for the disposal of NPR wastes preclude direct river release of the spent cleaning solutions because of the anticipated quantities of radioactive material in these wastes. The soil at a 100-N Area trench or crib should not be relied on for removing radionucleotides by ion exchange or filtration because of the high salt content of the wastes and the presence of solubilizing reagents. Permanent or long term storage of large volume of decontamination wastes would be expensive. A waste treatment is sought for concentrating the radioactive materials to volume suitable for long term storage and which would permit dispersal of the excess liquid to the environs.

Exponential and critical approach type measurements have been made to determine the critical mass, material buckling, and in a few cases, the extrapolation length for the lattices. This report attempts to list all measurements on water-uranium heterogenous lattices made to date at Hanford. All lattices were water moderated hexagonal arrays loaded with uranium of enrichments up to 3.15.

Continued operation of F reactor with high water collection rates during the past 12 years has resulted in numerous detrimental effects. In addition to promoting external corrosion tube leaks, water leaks have corroded the Gunbarrel to the biological shield donut assemblies and cast iron thermal shield blocks, thus preventing the majority of tubes in F reactor from unrestrained thermal expansion. Fatigue of the Van Stone flange under the resulting compression loads leads to eventual failure in some cases. In addition, excessive compression loads exerted against the nozzle gasket result in plastic deformation and eventual failures of the gasket.

One of the primary reasons for operating the high pressure KER loops is to obtain information concerning water quality control characteristics for recirculating water cooled reactors. The KER-1 loop is predominantly carbon steel and approximates the water quality conditions specified for the New Production Reactor (NPR).

In answer to the question, "How well do we know the composition of the fuel material for the PRTR start-up tests?", the analytical data on the PRTR fuel elements and other fuel elements which were fabricated by similar processes was gathered and analyzed. The results of this analysis are presented.

It is the purpose of this report to explain the bands and uses of a digital computer program for the calculation of steady state steam-water pressure drop and critical flow in pipes. The program has been coded for the IBM 709 computer. While so attempt has been made to obtain improved models of two-phase flow, it is believed that the numerical integration technique used in the code will permit more accurate calculation where pressure drops are large compared to the upstream pressure. The technique should lend itself readily to any improved correlations which appear in the future.

Two types of enclosed hot junction arrangements are possible with sheathed mineral insulated thermocouples. They are the integral junction and he isolated junction. The integral junction is formed by welding, soldering, brazing or forging the two wires into the end of the sheath. The process forms a good thermal and electrical contact between the three materials.

A reliable spline disposal system is necessary for full utilization of the Poison Spline Control System. The spline choppers were not reliable enough so a spline coiler was developed and designed to replace the choppers. A Development Test, IP-306-X (HW-63820), was issued authorizing on-pile testing of the spline coiler at X area. This report closes the Development Test and discusses the use of spline coilers.

At present, emphasis is being given the application of nondestructive testing to the inspection of nuclear fuel in conjunction with complete product specifications. The objective is to quantitatively specify fuel quality parameters, and to measure the entire fuel production against these specifications nondestructively. Under this concept the acceptability of a given fuel element becomes a well-defined factor readily determined by appropriate nondestructive tests.

A prototype instrument has been designed and built which demonstrates an ultrasonic pulse echo technique of measuring metal thickness in the range .010 to .080 inches. Extension of the range of measurement on the thick side appears straightforward, however, transducer frequency response considerations may limit the extension of the method for very thin sections. The instrument is based upon the principle that sections, when driven by pulses of vibratory energy, resonate at frequencies dependent upon the thickness of the section.

At the present time, high-radioactivity-level wastes at Hanford are neutralized and stored as liquid in underground tanks lined with mild steel. This method of storage is relatively inexpensive and is satisfactory on a short-term basis. However, on a long term basis, liquid storage is less desirable than solid storage because of the greater mobility of the liquid. In addition, storage as aa solid would significantly reduce the volume of waste stored. Consequently, various research and development studies have been undertaken in an attempt to develop a practical waste solidification.

In the Sulfex process, stainless steel cladding, generally 304-L, is removed from fuel elements by dissolution in boiling four to six molar sulfuric acid. When cladding removal is complete, the decladding solution is removed is removed to waste. The exposed fuel cores are rinsed and dissolved in nitric acid.

Facilities are to be designed for installation at Hanford for the reprocessing of irradiated, low enrichment fuels from non-production reactors, see Reference 1 and 2. The initial design of the processing facilities is to be based on processing the fuels discharged from the Dresden, Yankee, Piqua, Pathfinder and Shippingport (blanket elements only) reactors. Properties of the fuels and cladding make it impossible to completely process them in existing equipment, although the separation and decontamination can be performed in existing facilities once the fueks have been placed in solution form.

The purpose of this document is to describe the design and construction of a full-scale, electrically-heated model of a 19-rod PRTR fuel element for use in heat transfer experiments.

This is the third of a series of reports describing the phases of a study of the wear and galling of autoclavedZircaloy-2 by various bearing surface materials. The first report (1) showed that increasing contact area between the autoclaved Zircaloy-2 surfaces will not prevent scratching. It also showed that metals softer than Zircaloy-2 in general do not scratch it. The second report (2) described how eight metals and alloys were wear-tested on autoclaved Zircaloy-2 as prospects for fuel element support-bearing surface materials.

Applications of sheathed (metal) thermocouples may require in many instances, the insertion of the thermocouple thermal junction into an area that must be hermetically sealed to the outside. This same area usually contains highly reactive heat transfer medium such as an eutectic alloy of sodium and potassium of sodium alone. When fissionable materials are being irradiated, fission products that are driven off would also be present and must be contained under varying temperatures and pressures.