The following progress report was compiled by the research and development division of the zirconium pilot plant. This report discusses two iodination and deposition runs that were completed as of August 20, 1951, as well as the third iodination run that uses a vaporizer condenser that condenses approximately 40 pounds of zirconium iodide.

Report summarizing data from Purex tests for pulse column specifications. These test results were used to estimate pilot plant specifications.

"The attached report summarizes the work performed in the establishment of an improved spectrographic method for determining iron in plutonium."

The following report studies the effect of flow rates and deposition pressure on the zirconium deposition in the zirconium pilot plant with the use of a Hilco oil purifier for the vacuum pumps that permitted studies to continue through the month.

From introduction: The present report describes further refinements of the apparatus and the method to meet a need for a sensitive determination of carbon in plutonium.

Abstract: "A series of experiments was carried out to determine the precision of the spectrochemical procedure for the isotopic analysis of uranium, especially at low uranium 235 concentrations. Standards were prepared from uranium hexafluoride which had been assayed on the mass spectrometer with a 95 per cent confidence interval of 0.5 per cent of the amount present. For a determination consisting of 9 separate measurements, the best precision obtained at normal concentration on the 95 per cent confidence interval was 0.711 +/- 0.112 per cent uranium 235 (16 per cent of the amount present)."

This report describes an improved infrared absorption method to analyze aqueous samples and TBP after extraction. The method described in the following pages is the carbon tetrachloride extraction method.

The following report describes work carried out to investigate whether the Hanford IB column as designed in a previous report will decontaminate the uranium adequately from plutonium, particularly if there's any slowness in either the rate of reduction or transfer of the plutonium.

An accidental burst of radiation occurred at the laboratory on 1 February 1951 during remote control operation of a critical experiment. There was no personnel hazard. Normal operations were resumed within 24 hr, and the active material involved in the burst returned to service within three weeks. An unforeseen brief excursion into the prompt critical region was engendered in the act of scramming the assembly at the end of a series of measurements. This report describes the effects of the burst and analyzes the probable causes in some detail.

Technical report outlining the determination of the effective resonance integral for U238 as a function of the mass ratio for cylinders of 5/8" to 3" diameter. Also gives a linear approximation of the effective resonance integral with infinite shielding in the form of a function. [From Abstract]

The following report provides data from corrosion tests meant to evaluate the performance of Type 3098Cb stainless steel in BiP04 process dissolver solution containing mercuric ion.

A polarographic method for the determination of titanium in the presence of plutonium has been devised. Hydrochloric acid solutions of plutonium and titanium are reduced with zinc, made one molar in tartaric acid, and further reduced in the polarographic cell with liquid zine amalgam. Plutonium is thus reduced to the non-interfering (III) oxidation state and a well defined anodic wave for the oxidation of titanium (III) to titanium (IV) is obtained. The height of this wave is directly proportional to the titanium concentration for plutonium-titanium solutions containing 20 grams plutonium per liter. The precision for the analyses of duplicate samples has been calculated at the 95 percent confidence level to be 2.9 percent for those containing 0.025 to 0.050 gm titanium per liter and 1.1 percent for those containing 0.089 to 0.51 gm titanium per liter.

"The purpose of this memo is to set down a derivation and numerical technique for a method that can be used for criticality calculations on bare reactors containing hydrogen together with another moderator such as BeO. The method and notation are that of G. Goertzel (NDA)-1, and D. Selengut (NEPA). In the interest of the computers, the numerical technique, associated notation, and calculation form are modeled after that currently used by the ANP Physics Group for BeO moderated reactors."