The Metallurgy Research Sub-Section at HAPO has conducted a research and development study of a variety of nuclear fuel materials. A summary of the status of the program currently being conducted on ceramic fuel material and a brief discussion of the future program is outlined below.

In the analysis of problems involving transient flow and heat transfer in steam-water mixtures, it is necessary to derive an approximate integral equation of motion for a non-ideal compressible fluid in a duct having finite discontinuities in flow geometry. This equation is derived in this document.

Buckling measurements were taken with hollow natural uranium slugs in graphite-moderated lattices, in which the lattice spacing was varied from 6 3/16 to 15 inches in five steps. A 1.66" O.D. slug was used with two different core sizes, 1.11" I.D. and 0.81" I.D. The results of wet (water in the core) and dry measurements are reported. Buckling curves are given showing the effect on the buckling of coring the slug and placing water in the core. Simple three-region diffusion theory is applied to the measured lattices in an effort to correlate measurement with theory, but with only limited success.