The liquid high-level radioactive wastes from the separations plant are stored in large underground tanks where radioactive decay of the fission products in storage gives off heat. In the case of the 241-A underground storage tank farm, for Purex wastes, advantage is taken of this heat to self-concentrate the wastes. The present practice is to permit boiling and concentration in the storage tanks. The vapors given off from the boiling wastes are collected in a vapor header and passed through a deentrainment vessel and on to two contact condensers where the vapors are condensed and intermixed with waste cooling water. Samples taken of the waste vapors have shown a considerable amount of cesium{sup 137} present as well as other types of radioactive material carry over from the waste tanks. For this reason the contact condenser effluent is discharged to an underground crib 216-A-8. Underground disposal of the increasing volume of condenser effluent as larger waste volumes are accumulated in the underground tanks presents a critical problem which is further complicated by the desirability to transfer the condensate waste to new disposal facilities near the 200 West area. The intent of this report is to present the scope of the facilities …

The usefulness of the Ewing equation for calculating the thermal conductivity of reactor metals and alloys from electrical resistance, specific heat, density, and atomic weight was investigated. The alloys investigated were Zircaloy-2, HSZA, Nb- 5.5 wt% V, Inconel, 18-8 stainless steel, and eutectic NaK. The Ewing equation was found to give calculated values with a degree of confidence similar to that of actual measured values. (auth)

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This report addresses the biological effects of ionized radiation

Twenty-four briquettes of Pu turnings were pressed in a He atmosphere and made into eight castings. Six castings were processed to final form and were comparable to normally processed material. Two castings were recy-cled due to causes other than briquetting. Casting y-ieids. (wt. of casting/wt. of briquettes). were approximately 90%; approximately 10% of the Pu in the briquettes remaining in the melting and pouring crucible as skull. (auth)

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An apparatus is described in which crossed E and H fields will be used to separate high-energy charged particles of different masses. It is shown that use of coaxial geometry is expected to effect satisfactory separation within a considerably shorter system than would be possible in a parallel-plate system with a comparable separation criterion, A summary is given of the operational characteristics of a spectrometer now under construction.

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This Program detailed in this report is related to the Product Development, Palmolive, and Non-Production Fuels Programs under New and Special Products and Processes Category where the prime separations plants supply raw materials or processing support of these other programs. Likewise, Increased Plant Return Program items affecting the Purex, Redox, and UO{sub 3} Plants must be integrated with the Continuity of Operations Program. Since the primary separations plants feed the 234-5 Facility, the 234-5 Program is also related to Continutiy of Operation.

Preliminary experiments have been made to determine the vapor pressure of lanthanum fluoride between 0.001 and 0.1 millimeter of mercury by means of the Knudsen effusion method. A tantalum cell for this purpose is described. Only preliminary results were obtained and they were all in a relatively high pressure region. However, a plot of the vapor pressure against the reciprocal of absolute temperature approximates a straight line such as would be predicted from theoretical considerations.

Reductions in irradiation costs and increases in production rate have provided a continuing incentive for more efficient operation of the Hanford Piles. These improvements have been obtained by means of higher specific powers, greater water flow rates, and better water utilization. However, the extent of the improvements which can be made in this manner may be limited by such factors as tube and slug corrosion, slug stability, and graphite damage rates at higher operating temperatures. Water purification and pumping costs are also factors to be considered. New slug designs are being developed which may be capable of much higher specific power operation. Higher graphite temperatures may also prove feasible, but the water plant performance limitations for the present single pass cooling systems may prove much more expensive to relieve. The use of recirculating cooling water as a means of attaining higher temperature, higher power operation has received preliminary study. A preliminary economic evaluation of an operating area equipped for recirculation versus single pass cooling is needed to better determine the relative merits of the two cooling methods. This report presents the results of such an evaluation and discusses the direction of future development work in the field of pile cooling.

Helium, carbon dioxide, and helium-carbon dioxide mixtures are being considered for use as the pile gas in `G` pile. Coring the graphite tube block to provide a gas gap between the process tube centered in the graphite and the graphite tube block has been suggested as a means of maintaining high graphite temperatures in the tube blocks. It has been established that graphite damage during irradiation in minimized at high temperatures.

The 107-B retention basin was constructed in 1943--44 as part of the original reactor installation. Thermal stressing has caused extensive cracking of the concrete walls and leaking at cracks and joints, requiring repeated maintenance including a major repair program in 1952--53. Although a major repair or replacement program will eventually be necessary, existing basin leakage does not require immediate action, other than periodic control effort, with one exception. Effluent from 107-B leakage is flowing into the 181-B river pumphouse forebay, measurably increasing the temperature of the raw water and raising the question of continued stability of the building foundation. A basic inadequacy also exists in the inability to dispose of undesirable effluents other than to the river. The unique situation of B Reactor adjacent to the C Reactor effluent system permits consideration of improving the effluent disposal situation in this one area with minimum capital investment. The purpose of this report is to provide the scope for a project proposal for interim effluent system modifications in 100-B Area only. This will avoid future production losses and improve effluent disposal capability during resolution of a more permanent solution to the overall problem of effluent routing and treatment.

This report discusses a proposal to provide improved effluent water monitoring systems in the 105 Reactor Buildings at 100-B, D, F, DR, H, and C; and to modify or remove portions of the existing monitoring systems. The primary objectives of the proposed work are: to reduce relatively the amount of lost production due to stuck ruptures and leaking tubes; to minimize the amount of water entering the reactor from such tube leaks -- such water may shorten the life of the reactor; to provide an improved detection of ruptured slugs under the expected more rigorous reactor conditions; to eliminate operational inadequacies of existing systems and allow confident action based upon instrument readings; and to provide additional information for the slug development program.

The General Engineering Laboratory has submitted a cost estimate and a proposal covering the design, fabrication, construction, and testing of a uranium slug canning machine. This machine will cover requirements for mechanization of only the operations occurring within the aluminum-silicon canning bath. These operations are: Can and cap preheating, Can and cap wetting, Canning assembly, and Quenching. Stated briefly, the machine is required to insert a prepared uranium slug into an aluminum can and close the can opening with an aluminum cap. All assembly operations will be carried out beneath a molten bath of standard Hanford aluminum-silicon bonding alloy. The uranium slug is preheated and prewetted before being manually transferred to the slug assembly and quench machine. The process performed by the machine will be integrated with the manual slug preheating and wetting equipment so that proper preheating and wetting is attained before the slug is inserted into the machine. After assembly the completed canned slug will be transferred to the water quenching station, where the components are held firmly together until the molten aluminum-silicon has frozen, forming a homogeneously bonded assembly. This report provides a detailed description of the machine.

The primary purpose of this report is to present cost data associated with the recent construction of biological shields at Hanford. These data are useful for analyzing shields which have been built during the past four years and for ascertaining ways to improve future designs. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to: compile and analyze cost data associated with the construction of the high density concrete shields at 105-K and the steel-masonite shields at 105-C; and determine unit costs for erecting steel forms at Hanford and for filling them with high density concrete.

An X-8001 clad, I & E natural uranium fuel element irradiated in tube 2762D to 886 MWD/T was discharged in February 1959 and sent to Radiometallurgy Laboratory for examination at the request of Irradiation Processing Department. After discharging tube 2762D which was loaded with X-8001 clad fuel elements, a fuel element (KL018D) was observed to be very badly pitted. Visual and photographic inspection revealed the pits had penetrated into the AlSi layer. The pitting appeared as the result of erosion-corrosion as there was no evidence for intergranular or transgranular corrosion and no mechanical deformation. Chemical analysis for %Ni and Fe indicated normal concentrations.

The purpose of this report is to present results of an experimental program directed toward determining the degree of protection offered by the Panellit protection system to flow losses to a single process tube containing I & E fuel elements in K reactor.

Discussions are given of the characteristics of fission-source plate, graphite reactor, and pool-type reactor facilities applicable to development studies of minimum weight shielding materials. Advantages of a proposed SNAP dual-purpose shielding facility are described in terms of a disk-shaped fission-source plate, reactor, and building. A program for the study of advanced shielding materials is discussed for materials and configuations to be evaluted with the fission-source plate, the testing of the prototype at high-power levels, and full-power tests on the actual reactor.

In order to decide the value and type of information to be obtained from outer space with regard to its pertinence for the evolution of life, a brief review is presented of the current status of our thinking on the origin of life on earth. This points up the particular kinds of chemicals whose presence, or absence, on other astral bodies might be significant. Heretofore, the only data available are the result of telescopic spectroscopy. We report here information indicating the presence in meteorites of complex organic materials, some of them apparently uniquely pertinent to life processes.

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Recent experience with liquid hydrogen bubble chambers of 25 and 40 cm dia. in high-energy physics experiments is discussed. Experiments described are: interactions of K/sup -/ mesons with prctons, iateractions of antiprotons with protons, catalysis of nuclear fusion reactions by muons, and production and decay of hyperons from negative pions. (W.D.M.)

In discussions with a number of people, a hypothesis has been evolved which appears to fit available information concerning irradiation embrittlement of uranium as well as indicate a possible solution to the problem. The purpose of this memorandum is to expound this hypothesis as an aid to those working with the problem. Since it embodies the ideas of many people, no claim to unique authorship is implied.