This quarterly progress report details ongoing work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Project. Topics of discussion include reactor theory and design, shielding research, materials research, appendixes with information on ongoing analytical chemical studies.

From abstract: "This report describes the decontamination of Oak Ridge National Laboratory Purex Pilot Plant facilities and presents an appraisal of the decontaminating techniques and reagents which were employed."

Nitrate contained in raffinates from Canadian Blind River mills interferes seriously with thorium extraction by secondary amines. With primary amines, however, the effect is negligible and these compounds are the preferred process extractants.

The method of calculation of various quantities relating the temperature and the rate of heat removal of UO2 test elements is presented. Graphs of the appropriate quantities as a function of the rate of heat removal are included.

Many elements exhibit anisotropic scattering at energies of interest in reactor calculations. A method is presented for the calculation of transport cross sections including the observed anisotropy.

The nuclear characteristics and fuel costs of a number of aqueous homogeneous reactors have been estimated. Most of the reactors studied were cylindrical, two-region power-breeders variously having between 0 and 300 g/l of thorium in the core and between 500 and 1000 g/l of thorium in the blanket. The results of the calculations, including breeding ration, fuel inventories, doubling times, and net fuel costs, are summarized in this report.

A self-contained developmental or the formation of the problem of inelastic neutron scattering by crystals is presented. although nearly all of the methods and results used in the present discussion have appeared in a variety of previously published papers, additional mathematical details are given here which have been found by thee authors to aid in understanding the final results.

Progress report of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Analytical Chemistry Division providing updates on various projects, experiments, and other work in ionic analyses, analytical instrumentation, radiochemical analyses, activation analyses, spectrochemical analyses, inorganic preparations, optical and electron microscopy.

This report presents a summary of certain physical properties that have been determined experimentally on the fluoride mixture that have been formulated at ORNL (Rers. 1, 2). These properties include the density, enthalpy, heat capacity, heat of fusion, thermal conductivity, viscosity, Prandtl number, electrical conductivity and surface tension. In addition to the experimental data, values have been predicted for the heat capacity and density of the other mixtures from the correlations of these properties. Estimates of the viscosity have also been made for a number of the mixtures on which no experimental data were available.

One of a series of experiments to test the radiation corrosion of Zircaloy-2 and other possible reactor construction materials in UO2SO4 solutions under various radiation intensities, temperatures, solution compositions, and velocities of flow past specimens.

Description of cooling, shielding, controls are discussed for 100 kw and 1 Mw operation of a low cost experimental neutron chain reactor.

Quarterly progress report discussing activities related to the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR) and related facilities.

Two 500-kw fused-fluoride-to-Nak heat exchangers, two 500-kw NaK-to-air radiators, and a 20-tube high-velocity heat exchanger were fabricated for a heat-exchanger development program. A construction procedure, utilizing both inert-arc-welding and high temperature dry-hydrogen brazing, was used successfully on all of the units. The tube-to-header joints were welded and back-brazed; the manifold joints were inert-arc-welded with full penetration; and the tube-to-fin joints were brazed. A detailed description of the fabrication of each type of component is discussed and a cost analysis of the 500-kw units is presented.

The Homogeneous Reactor Test (HRT) is the experimental reactor facility (Frontispiece) being designed and constructed at ORNL as the next step in homogeneous reactor development between the 1-Mv HRE and a "full-scale" power station. The HRT will provide an integrated test at 5 to 10 Mv for the flowsheet and equipment designs on which the full-scale effort will be based. Furthermore, its design is such that several homogeneous systems which require essentially the same operating equipment may be tested with comparatively minor modifications of the original reactor installation. The reactor will be assembled in the building which housed the HRE, located in the experimental reactor exclusion area approximately one mile south of the oak ridge laboratory. (See figure 1) / It is the purpose of this report to provide information with which the hazardous aspects of this reactor may be evaluated. Briefly, it will be shown after a statement of purpose and a general description of the reactor that: 1. The design characteristics and equipment requirements are such that escape of highly reactive material from the reactor piping is unlikely. 2. Should the entire core and blanket contents suddenly escape from the reactor system, a seal-welded steel tank surrounding the …

Considerable delay has occurred in getting ratification of the Eurochemic charter by 80% of the participating nations. The French, who were not expected to ratify the charter until an elected government was again established , actually ratified under de Gaulle late in 1958.

Four naturally occurring materials, namely, vermiculite, variscite, Tennessee rock phosphate, and Florida pebble phosphate, were studied to determine the feasibility of their use in columns for the sorption of strontium from high pH, intermediate-level wastes produced at ORNL. Excepting vermiculite, all materials were found to be effective in strontium removal.

An estimate was made of the beam hole currents to be expected from both the radial and tangential beam holes in the present HFIR design. The angular fluxes required for these calculation were determined by an 18-group, S8 transport calculation (SNG reactor code). Both type beam holes produced thermal neutron currents of 7.5 x 10^10 neutrons/cm^2 sec. at a power level of 100 Mw. The nonthermal component of the beam current was 7.0 x 10^10 and 4.5 x 10^10 neutrons/cm^2 -sec for the radial and tangential holes, respectively.

The failure of the valve bellows would appear to be due to a combination of stress corrosion and crevice corrosion. Stress corrosion occurred as evidenced by the transgranular branched cracking found in the bellows and in the base which which was joined to the bellows. It seems probable that chlorides were present, which, along with the residual stresses present in the bellows assembly, created the necessary conditions for stress corrosion to occur. Crevice corrosion occurred probably due to heavy deposits of solids at the base of the bellows, which created a condition of oxygen impoverishment. While the crater in the base may have been related to a galvanic effect created by the gold gasket, the contour of the crater would suggest that the cause of the crater was due more to crevice corrosion.

Twenty-five hundred psi ring-type flanges, ring gaskets, bolts, and special connectors were tested for adaptability to the aqueous homogenous reactor. High pressure line closures were studied to obtain empirical data pertinent to the selection or design of a connector capable of withstanding sustained thermal cycling and high pressures encountered in the aqueous homogenous reactor. Specialized stress-strain measurement techniques yielded information concerning flange deformation, ring type gaskets, bolts, and special connectors. The results indicated that no totally acceptable connector is currently available. Most promising of the combination of components tested during this period was a 2500 psi ring type flange with an accurately machined octagonal gasket and Grade B-7 bolts.

The Eyewash program, written by James H. Alexander and Nancy D. Given, provides solutions of reactor criticality problems in spherical geometry by means of the group diffusion method. It employs thirty lethargy groups (plus one thermal group) in nine regions. The input consists principally of specifying the geometrical scaling factor, boundaries and compositions of the various regions, and temperature level. The output includes the value of vc that would render the system critical, the relative fission density distribution, fissions, absorptions, and leakages in each lethargy group in each region, and, if desired, an edit of the flux at each space point, each lethargy, and an edit of the macroscopic cross sections for each lethargy, each region. OCUSOL-A is a minor modification and extension of Eyewash. It provides for the computation and editing, on the supervisory control typewriter, of the total absorptions in selected nuclides in the various regions. This information is useful in the computation of breeding ratios and the preparation of detailed neutron balances, and in the estimation of flux-averaged cross sections for use in estimating the rate of change of concentration of the various nuclides with burn-up. The program also provides for saving and transferring the final fission …