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.

A portable GM survey instrument was designed and developed which consists of a single transistor blocking-oscillator high voltage supply, a dual transistor multivibrator count-rate meter and a standard 30 mg/cm² glass-wall GM tube.

This document presents a set of machine-computed curves involving a wide range of Kb and Kc, from which both thermal and resonance values of (E-1) may be obtained.

The use of a reactor charged with silver nitrate coated packing for removal of radio-iodine from the waste gases of Hanford chemical processing plants has been successful in removing approximately 99.5 percent of this activity. Studies by the Radiological Sciences Department indicated the desirability of further reducing the amount of radio-iodine released to the atmosphere. Therefore, this study was undertaken with the objectives of better understanding the inherent limitations to iodine removal by reaction with silver nitrate, and improving the efficiency of removal of iodine.

A knowledge of the preferred orientation of the crystal aggregates in pile structural materials is of basic importance in the attempt to understand their behavior under operating conditions. The effect of a preferential alignment of crystallites in enisotropic materials is to create a directional variation in physical and mechanical properties. In most applications directional effects are undesirable and efforts are usually made during fabrication to avoid the conditions which cause the orientation or, if possible, to alleviate the condition by proper heat treatments after the forming process if the orientation persists. Some of the variables that affect the type and degree of preferred orientation is metals during the forming process include working temperature, per cent reduction, the nature of the applied forces used, the crystal structure, and the inherent deformation mechanisms of the metal.

There is a continuing high interest in the development of organic coolant technology for application to future Hanford reactors. In addition to the HAPO organic program, two other programs are being sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission. These include the Naval Reactor program, aimed at a reactor for ship propulsion, and the Civilian Power Reactor program. Because of the similarity of the technical efforts in the three programs, an attempt is being made to establish effective liaison among the programs. To this end, a visit was made to several sites actively engaged in organic development work. These sites and their primary functions are detailed in this report.