A report of quarterly results of research and development directed towards establishing new techniques and instruments towards improving present methods for determining levels of radioactivity accurately and safely.

"A series of shock tube studies demonstrate that two types of pressure gauges respond to dust carried with shock waves by indicating an increase in dynamic pressure. This contribution to the dynamic pressure is approximately the product of the dust density and the square of the dust velocity under the experimental conditions. Besides this information studies give insight into the interaction of a square shock wave with dust when that dust is placed in a plane before and parallel to the shock front. It is found that the shape of the pressure wave is little changed except for a rounding of the front. The dust, after accelerating, is carried as a pulse with the mass flow velocity of the air."

"This report describes second-cycle postirradiation examination and AIROX reprocessing-refabricating of uranium dioxide irradiated to an additional 10,000 Mwd/MTU burnup."

From introductory paragraph: "This is the first quarterly report of the Biology Division of the Argonne National Laboratory. During the three-month period covered by this report, a large share of the time of many investigators has been spent in collating work done under the Biology Section of the Metallurgical laboratory for publication in the Plutonium Project Record. The large amount of work done under wartime pressure has made this, as in other divisions and projects, an important part of the transition to the post-war period."

The following report contains papers summarizing the activities of the various sections comprising the Isotope Research and Production Division of Y-12.

Abstract: This technical report describes the changes incurred in the PM-2A by the planned insertion of PM-2A Core II and the replacement of the startup and check sources. PM-2A Core II components were fabricated to specifications very nearly identical to those of PM-2A Core I. The essential difference in the cores is the boron loading which permits PM-2A Core II to meet a "one-stuck rod criteria" at beginning of life. This core has been subjected to a zero power experiment and loading procedures have been developed at the Alco Critical Facility. The nuclear and thermal and hydraulic characteristics are essentially identical to those of Core I and the replacement of the startup and check sources represent no increase in the potential for or magnitude of a hazardous situation.

The report summarizes results obtained since September, 1951, by total neutron yield experiments using 190 Mev deuterons and the MnSo4 tank method (UCRL-1375 and UCRL-1480). A new method of beam monitoring has resulted in establishing firmly the absolute yield for solid uranium and thorium primary targets backed by a solid uranium secondary. The beam monitoring was done by using a primary target built into a faraday cup. This method circumvents errors caused by recombination in the ionization chambers used previously.

Report discussing the progress made on various research projects by the staff responsible for the Materials Testing Reactor at Phillips Petroleum Company during the first quarter of 1953.

From abstract: "Rats have been fed active strontium which was adsorbed on clay, while their controls were fed the same amount of active strontium in aqueous solution. There was no significant difference in the amount deposited in the skeleton between the two groups, and it is concluded that if ions are adsorbed on inert material, they will be eluted during their passage through the gastrointestinal tract."

Abstract: Design nomographs and equations have been prepared for determining the bending stresses and hoop stresses at the junction of a cylinder and sphere when: (1) Internal pressure exists in the sphere and (2) There is a difference in average temperature between the cylinder and the sphere. A correlation of calculated stresses and photoelastically determined stresses for models with internal pressure is presented.

Report discussing the status of ductile zirconium preparation by the National Research Corporation up to February 20, 1950.

The liquid metal level instrument will operate at tank temperatures up to 1000 F. Overall system accuracy depends on operating conditions, as described in the report. Test accuracies from 2 to 8% have been obtained from full to empty tank. The primary detector unit successfully passed navy HI shock test.

"The purpose of this present document is twofold: (1) To acquaint the reader with the planning of the radiochemical laboratory designed for the analytical control of the Radio-lanthanum Process. (2) To define the terminal status of the design of this laboratory and its equipment."

Abstract: The fast and thermal neutron leakage from the 30 megawatt SGR-P4 reactor has been studied by three independent methods.

Abstract. The precipitation of Pa233 with MnO2 from a solution of thorium nitrate has been studied in some detail and seems quite satisfactory up to 36 gm Th(HO3)4 4H2O per 100 cc solution. The concentration of Pa233 with respect to the manganese dioxide carrier and the thorium precipitated with the carrier appears to be accomplished quite well by either a series of MnO2 cycles or thorium iodate cycles. Volatility methods for both the separation of Pa233 from the original thorium and for its separation from MnO2 are now under investigation. It has been decided that thorium carbonate will the the thorium compound used in the pile at Site X.

From abstract: "Iron(III) can be separated from many elements by extraction from 6 to ͟8M hydrochloric acid. The extraction is carried out by passing the aqueous hydrochloric acid solution through a column packed with 2-octanone adsorbed onto a poly-fluorocarbon resin. Fluoride, phosphate, sulfate or citrate cause no interference. Traces if iron(III) can be separated quantitatively from large amounts of copper(II) or zinc(II); traces of titanium(IV) can be separated from large amounts of iron(III)."

This quarterly progress report discusses ongoing research and experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Metallurgy Division. This report discusses thorium research, the mechanical properties of metals including thorium, uranium, inconel, and z-nickel, the ANP program (including the following topics: the physical chemistry of liquid metals, and welding research), and the materials testing reactor program.

This report studies the effect of x irradiation on the maturation of the circulating reticulocytes, using samples of rabbit blood with and without phenylhydresine- or bleeding-induced anemia and comparing them to the blood of human subjects under similar circumstances.

Abstract: "The possibility of transient temperature variations during the self-heating of a plasma by thermonuclear reactions was investigated. Calculations were performed on an IBM Card Program Calculator. Estimates of the time scale for self-heating were obtained. It was concluded that it would be unsafe to assume that the nuclear temperature is always equal to or greater than the electron temperature in a discussion of plasma instabilities for a plasma with 10 percent or greater tritium concentration."

Introduction: This memo gives a general description of the components and equipment affecting the control of the SRE, and the equipment associated with all reactor services.

From abstract: "The electronic spectra arising from the excitations of pi-electrons in homo-nuclear conjugated bond systems are calculated for 37 aromatic hydrocarbons. The theoretical approach used takes into account overlap effects between different a atoms, correlation between different electrons, variations in internuclear distances, and the influence of non-conjugated neighbors, hydrogen and carbon. Four types of approximations are carried trough for the molecules in order to obtain an estimate of the inadequacies of the theory. From the calculated transition energies and oscillator strengths, theoretical spectra are synthesized and compared with observed spectra. In order to help the interpretation, a decomposition of the transition dipoles into atomic contributions is introduced. The spectra of alternant molecules are succesfully predicted, but the limits of the underlying assumptions appear to be exceeded in the applications to non-alternant systems. The calculations are markedly successful for the peri-condensed systems, which had presented an obstacle to previous treatments. It is found that the calculated spectra are fairly sensitive to small variations in interatomic distances. calculations with exact atomic positions, where available, give considerably better agreement with experimental spectra. The calculations lead to an understanding of the general spectral pattern found in all aromatic hydrocarbons. On this basis the …

Report that offers updated information from the Materials Testing Reactor (MTR) and Engineering Test Reactor (ETR) "experiment safety circuit manual by providing ETR power reduction curves and other information on ETR not yet available at the time the manual was issued, September 15, 1957" (p. 1).

A compilation of Stratigraphic data on the Morrison Formation in the Southern San Juan Basin.

Report containing the description and design of U₃O₈-Aluminum Dispersion Fuel Elements for Core I of the Puerto Rico Research Reactor. Topics include the requirements of core materials, materials specifications, manufacturing procedures, and shipping preparation.