A study of the design of the DR Water Plant made for the purpose of estimating the feasibility of effecting an expansion of capacity has shown the following: (1) The Charles T. Main Company design has incorporated spare spaces and other provisions to permit a relatively simple increase in capacity to 42,000 GPM without undue additional design or procurement being required. (2) An increase in capacity to 44,000 GPM would require considerable re-design of the 183-DR, 190-DR and interconnecting pipe lines and would incur costs which may be out of proportion to the small increase in flow attained. In view of the urgency for the completion of the design and construction of this Water Plant, further consideration of an expansion to 44,000 GPM is not recommended.

There were twenty slug jacket failures during the month of January 1952. Of these, fourteen were end cap failures, five were split slugs and one has not been removed. A total of 311.4 hours of outage time was required for removal of these ruptured slugs from the reactors. The detection, removal and radiation aspects, along with the slug data, are shown on the attached sheets.

The requirements of an atmosphere for the brazing of Al bronze to Inconel were considered on a thermodynamic basis. It was demonstrated that brazing was not possible in a vacuum or inert gas and is improbable in dry H/sub 2/. Attempts to braze in dry H/sub 2/ prove unsuccessful as predicted, except at isolated spots where filler metal had been preplaced. Modification of the plastic binder for holding the filler metal so as to remove Oi and introduce halogen gave no improvement. Negative results were also obtained when solid halide or halogen was incorporated. Satisfactory brazing was achieved with various solid fiuxes. Consideration was given as to what must be the properties of such a flux so that it should not have deleterious affects in s ervice. (auth)

In reduction reactions of CeO/sub 2/, with calcium and a CaCl/sub 2/ flux, the use of vibrational energy was shown to have a marked effect on the yield of coalesced metal. Buttons of 40 to 50% theoretical yield were obtained from the vibrated reductions. As the flux concentration is decreased, the slag becomes more viscous containing undissolved CaO. The undissolved CaO present prevents the metal from completely coalescing, but the metal can be recovered from the slag and coalesced under CaCl/sub 2/ containing a small amount of calcium to reduce any oxide skin present. Cerium pellet yields of 50 to 60% metal were obtained by the procedure and were not difficult to handle in air. Cerium was used as a stand-in material for plutonium. (B.O.G.)

A large portion of the slug failures which occurred during 1955 were of the ``hot-spot`` type. Observation of these failures has shown them to be the result of intergranular corrosion attack of the aluminum jacket. Intergranular corrosion is presently considered to occur in water temperature above 150 C; a flow disturbance which causes non-uniform coolant temperatures is suspected as the cause of failure.The present of a cocked slug, or a bowed slug column, might provide this flow disturbance. 189-D laboratory tests have shown that flow seating the slug charge allows slugs to cock in the tube. It has also been found that these cocked slugs may be lifted to close proximity of the tube wall by the axial load on the slug column due to process water flow. It is believed that in cases such as this, slug and coolant temperatures may become critical. Present charging procedures allow for flow seating of the slug column. The distance the column is flow seated varied from very little to 3 or 4 inches depending on the particular charge. It is believed that this practice can lead to the situation observed in the laboratory tests. During the past two months, there has been …

Thorium nitrate, removed from irradiated Th metal processed in the Thorex pilot plant, was converted to the oxide and then to the fluoride in one pilot-plant-scale and two laboratory-scale runs. Activity distributions, decontamination factors, and safety of the process are treated. (D.L.C.)

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The filtration and pressure drop-flow rate characteristics of MC 1478 filter paper was determined over wide ranges in pressure 1/20 to 1/5 atm.) ard temperature (--40, 0, and 70 deg F). The retention of SiO/sub 2/ spherical particles by the filter paper at a flow rate of 5000 ft/min at 1/20 atm. pressure and 70 deg F was found to be essentially 100%. The retention (generally 30 to 75%) for aluminum oxide particles (about 40 A) and pressure drop were determined over wide ranges in pressure, temperature, and flow rate, The application of kinetic theory to small particle diffusion in a gas is discussed. The theory of diffusion of particles from a streaming gas to the tube wall was evolved and applied to the estimation of particle size. (C.J.G.)

The purpose of this report is to recommend variable goal plans for natural and enriched bumper fuel elements, specifically for 0-III-NB and 0-III-EB materials, to be irradiated at the B, D, DR, and F Reactors. The average goal exposure for all bumper fuel elements at D Reactor was specified to be 900 MWD/T, with provisions being made for revision by normal procedures. Exposures for enriched bumper material at the B, M. and F Reactors were not specified in the PITA supplement authorizing charging of this material.

It is the objective of this production test to authorize the use of PT IP-216-A (Quality Certification) fuel columns and supplementary numbered columns are required for obtaining routine axial flux measurements suitable for metal performance analysis.

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A plugging meter designed for the Hallam Nuclear Power Facility was tested. Plugging performance was satisfactory and excellent reprcducibility was achieved. Although the time limitations precluded complete testing of the automatic control equipment, the tests performed gave satisfactory indication of correct performance. (auth)

A criticality excursion occurred at the Oak Ridge Critical Experiments Laboratory on November l0, l961 as enriched uranium metal, neutron reflected and moderated by hydrogen, was being assembled. It is estimated that the energy yield was between 10/sup 15/ and 10/sup 16/ fissions. There was no personnel exposure or property damage. Fission product contamination, both airborne and contained in the metal, decayed sufficiently overnight to allow unhindered continuation of the experiment. The excursion was caused by a too rapid approach of the two sections of uranium constituting the experiment. (auth)

The principal objective of the work being reported was to irradiate a variety of borides in order to assess the relationship of crystal structure to helium retention and structural changes. A secondary objective was to compare the irradiation behavior of powders and dense solids. Another objective was to compare the behavior of borides with similar crystal structures but having metal atoms with vastly different absorption cross-sections, for example, zirconium and hafnium diborides.

This document reflects our comments on the drawings and design information that we have received. It is therefore contingent upon the drawings and specifications which we have not as yet received from Vitro Engineering Company.

About 298,000 OIIIN aluminum components were received from Harvey for evaluation after major steps were take in the vendor`s plant to upgrade product quality. This material met HAPO specifications and was comparable to Alcoa control components. Finished fuel elements (non-bumper and bumper) canned in the test and control components are tabulated by uranium core type and canning month. Non-destructive and destructive test data did not show any differences in clad fuel elements attributable to component quality. Irradiation status of non-bumper and bumper fuel elements clad in Harvey improved components as of Dec. 31, 1962, is tabulated, as is a summary of ruptures. It was recommended that Harvey Aluminum Co. be allowed to bit competitively on all future Al component orders except for the KVN and KVE component models.

This report provides an addendum to the February 1963 production studies and details Neptunium 237 production yields.

This report details progress in an intensive investigation which was launched to determine the basic mechanisms leading to gross loss of UO{sub 2} fuel upon thermal cycling of UO{sub 2}-W cermets and to suggest means of overcoming this serious operational problem. (This problem was recently uncovered at both Lewis Research Center and at Hanford). More than 40 separate experiments were conducted in four high temperature furnaces, at temperatures to 2600 C, pressures from 10{sup {minus}5} mm vacuum to 1000 psi, atmospheres including wet, pure and tank H{sub 2}-Ar mixtures, N{sub 2}, and He, and cycle periods from 30 seconds to 15 hours. Specimens examined included two types of NASA-fabricated plates, three types of Hanford high energy impacted discs, and several other materials used for single experiment evaluation.

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A brief description of the construction and operation of the semiautomatic dosimeter loader for TLD badges now in use at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is given.

The paper discusses development of a resource allocation methodology for the BCS group to determine which energy conservation projects to fund if it is not possible to support all candidate programs and to determine how many projects to fund in one area to maintain minimal duplication. The current status of the methodology is presented. Section II deals with the technique used to evaluate a single portfolio. Section III describes the algorithm used to select the portfolios for evaluation. The search technique is described in Section IV. Information on the overall portfolio in Section IV is tabulated according to rank, project number, funding level, group number, research cost of addition, net benefit, marginal benefit, marginal rate of return, and cumulative rate of return. A summary of results is presented in Section V and group results are presented in Section VI. A table in Section VII lists the projects in numerical order with their group number, possibility of success, energy cost savings with and without DOE funding, and research cost of the project. (MCW)

It is important to recognize the distinction between risk assessment and its components which include risk analysis, perspectives study, and decision analysis. Divergence of opinion within the scientific community as well as the public at large is a characteristic of issues related to nuclear power. The divergent opinions can largely be characterized as either optimistic or pessimistic in nature. Reconciliation of divergent viewpoints presents some difficult challenges. It is doubtful that issues which have an emotional or philosophical basis can be resolved through technical efforts. Public education on the technical issues might prove helpful.