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 …

To supply information about the several letdown valves which have been in HRT service, a typical valve plug examined by the Metallurgy Section confirms the belief that chemical attack on the Stellite #6 was occurring. It appears that most of the corrosion was due to rinse solutions, since this phenomenon has not been noted on letdown valves in the HRT Mockup where over 90% of the operating time has been with UO2SO4 solutions.

Radiation level measurements of various HRE fuel system components, made in September, 1956, after 27 moths of storage, are compared with the June, 1954, readings before storage. Measurements were made with a standard cutie pie and results tabulated.

A 10% phosphoric acid solution contain 0.2% "Rodine 45" inhibitor is recommended to be used for the chemical cleaning of the HRT seam and closed colling water systems. Wet storage is recommended for both of these systems. The steam system is to be stored with steam condensate containing 100 ppm hydrazine, and closed cooling water system is to be stored with steam condensate containing 1000 ppm potassium chromate.