Measurement of radioactive carry-over was made on borax III operating at 300 psig and at power levels ranging from 4 to 14 mv. Decontamination factors of from 1.5 x 104 (at 14 mv) were obtained. These data are in essential agreement with those predicted by previous laboratory experimental work.

The purpose of this program was to develop techniques and methods for producing fuel elements for the Experimental Boiling Water and Experimental Breeder Reactors. Methods for fabricating large tubes, flat plates, and small pins were investigated. The tube and plates contained U-5 w/o Zr-1.5 w/o Nb alloy and were designed for the EBWR. The pins contained U-2 w/o Zr alloy and were designed for the EBR. Cladding and end seal material of Zircaloy-2 was required for the water-cooled EBWR elements. Unalloyed zirconium was specified for cladding on the sodium-cooled EBR elements.

Experiments performed by the Laboratory with the Borax Reactor at the National Reactor Testing Station have demonstrated that a boiling reactor possesses inherent safety characteristics which have not previously been included in the estimation of reactor hazards. Other operating characteristics of Borax were also sufficiently attractive to justify the development of boiling reactors for package power and central station power plant applications. Accordingly, a proposal was made to the Atomic Energy Commission that Argonne design, construct and operate a pilot-scale boiling reactor (BER) as part of the Commission's five year program for development of power reactors. Tentative approval for this project has been granted. The primary objective of the BER is to establish the feasibility of operating a boiling reactor in conjunction with a turbine generator on a scale which can be extrapolated to large sizes. A preliminary evaluation of hazards is hereby submitted for the purpose of determining site requirements for a 20 mw reactor of this type. Because the construction of the reactor would be expedited and its usefulness as an operating experiment greatly enhanced, it is suggested that the reactor should be constructed at the DuPage site of the Laboratory. If the inherent features of safety of …

Progress is reported on (1) direct cycle boiling reactor studies, (2) solvent extraction, (3) fluoride volatilization separation process, (4) elevated temperature separations, (5) fluidization studies, (6) development of analytical techniques, (7) processing and utilization of radioactive wastes.

The development of methods which were successful in producing zirconium Hanford type process tubing by roll forming and inert are welding (He) flat strip to which appropriate rails had ben previously attached by resistance welding is described in this report. Grade 2 drip arc melted crystal bar material was used.

A spectrometer has been used with a hollow prism electrically heated to 70 C to measure the refractive indices of solutions of uranium hexafluoride in bromine trifluoride and uranium hexafluoride in bromine pentafluoride. The refractive indices of the two binary systems have been expressed as a function of composition.

Dissolution of the large number of samples obtained from the natural uranium blanket of the Experimental Breeder Reactor after approximately 485,000 kw.-hr. of operation has been completed, and analysis of these samples for uranium consumed and plutonium formed is well along. An attempt is being made to distinguish quantitatively between uranium-238 and uranium-235 fission in the blanket area by determining the ratio of ruthenium-106 to cesium-137 in the fission products.

Through the efforts of the Hanford Engineer Works a quantity of neptunium-237 was separated from uranium waste solutions by a modification of the standard plutonium precipitation process, This material, as concentrates, was shipped to Argonne for final isolation and purification of the neptunium.

The thermal cycling growth and the accompanying metallographic changes were studied in 300 [degree] C rolled uranium rods up to 3000 cycles. The growth rate was found to decrease at the higher cycling levels. Project-grade material developed substantial porosity during cycling; high purity material showed no evidence of porosity.

This report describes corrosion rate of uranium in hydrogen-saturated water appears to be constant with respect to time after a brief induction period and to involve only one type of over-all reaction, in which pitting effects are slight or nonexistent.

Quarterly report describing the research and management effort of Argonne National Laboratory's program on lithium/metal sulfide batteries during the period January-March 1976. These batteries are being developed for energy storage on utility networks and for electric-vehicle propulsion. The present cells are vertically oriented, piismatic cells with a central positive electrode of FeS or FeS; and two facing negative electrodes of lithium-aluminum alloy, and an electrolyte of molten LiCl-KC1. The cell operating temperature is 400-450C.

Management (EM) to evaluate factors that are anticipated to affect waste glass reaction during repository disposal, especially in an unsaturated environment typical of what may be expected for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository site.

This document reports on the work done by the Nuclear Waste Programs of the Chemical Technology Division (CMT), Argonne National Laboratory, in the period April-September 1992. In these programs, studies are underway on the performance of waste glass and spent fuel in projected nuclear repository conditions to provide input to the licensing of the nation's high-level waste repositories.

This report covers the research, development, and management activities of the programs at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and at subcontractors' laboratories on high-temperature batteries during the period October 1978 - March 1979. These batteries are being developed for electric-vehicle propulsion and for stationary energy--storage applications. The present cells, which operate at 400-500 C, are of a vertically oriented, prismatic design with one or more inner positive electrodes of FeS or FeS2, facing electrodes of lithium-aluminum alloy, and molten LiCl-KC1 electrolyte.

This report describes the results of a study conducted by a "Pool Study Group" organized at ANL in mid-1975 to examine the present state of the air of design of pool-type LMFBRs. The study concentrated on examination of various design options used to date in the principle pool-type projects and design studies in this country and abroad, including the Phenix and Super-Phenix reactors (France), PFR and CFR (U.K.), RN-600 (U.S.S.R.) and EBR-II (U.S.A.). The objective of the report is to provide a step toward better understanding of the pool-type system and of the advantages and disadvantages of the various possible approaches to its design.

The heat-transfer performance of an evacuated glass-jacketed CPC-receiver facility, free on one end and fixed onto the glass jacket at the other, was carried out using heat-transfer relationships and the best information available in the literature. Specifically, the collector examined was a 3x-CPC facility, 8 ft long, with an entrance aperture 4.5 in. wide covered with a single glass cover, and provided with an aluminum reflecting surface (rho = 0.88). To maximize heat retention, a selectively treated receiver surface, epsilon = 0.11, was used. The optical efficiency of this CPC collector facility was calculated to be eta₀ = 0.536.

A description and interpretation of the atomic spectrum of neptunium are given. Wavelengths were measured for 6096 spectrum lines in the range 3793 to 38,812 cm⁻¹ (26,353 to 2575 A), of which 2526 were classified as transitions between 329 odd levels and 130 even levels of neutral neptunium (Np I). The data are presented in five tables.

The application of the frequency-modified life equation to fatigue life prediction has been critically examined using the extensive fatigue data generated for Type 304 stainless steel at 1100 degrees F under a variety of cyclic-loading conditions. The parameters that enter into the frequency-modified life equation vary with strain rate and show a transition coinciding with the frequency of cycling at which a change in the fracture appearance from predominantly transgranular to predominantly intergranular failure mode or vice versa occurs. The accuracy in life prediction is improved when the effect of strain rate on life-predictive parameters is considered. It is shown how the effect of compressive and symmetric hold time on fatigue life can be taken into account. A comparison between the frequency-modified life approach of Coffin and the damage-rate approach recently developed by Majumdar and Maiya is also made to show the importance of wave-shape on low-cycle fatigue life.

Radioactive krypton-85 is used as a tracer to detect pinhole failures in GCFR cladding. High-purity helium (99.99% pure) that contains 0.3 ppm krypton-85 is used to pressurize the tubular test specimens, and a Geiger-Mueller counter is used to detect the krypton-85 in the helium environmental gas as it leaves the test chamber. Under the least favorable conditions of temperature and specimen pressure, it is estimated that the smallest pinhole failure that could be detected within 60 sec would have an orifice diameter of 0.0102 cm. Using lead shielding around the Geiger-Muller counter to reduce background radiation, the electronics associated with the krypton-85 detector will terminate a biaxial creep test at krypton-85 activity levels above 20 counts/minute.

Overview of the battery program at Argonne National Laboratory being developed for use as energy storage devices for load-leveling on electric utilities and as power sources for electric automobiles.

Report on technical progress in the various research and assessment activities of Argonne National Laboratory.

Pre and postprocessors have been written for an established hydraulic program (COMMIX-IHX) which enables prediction of the internal crossflow field for each tube of Argonne's Test Heat Exchanger and identification of those tubes most likely to experience fluid-elastic instability, together with the instability vibration mode. While the direct use of the HXVA method is limited to single pass, single-segmentally baffled tube bundle configurations, its algorithms and methods can be applied to any type of heat exchanger which can be analyzed by COMMIX-IHX. The processors are explained and an example problem is given along with comparisons of experimental results.

This report documents the operation of a 28 in. long sodium heat pipe in the Heat Pipe Test Facility (HPTF) installed at Argonne National Laboratory. Experimental data were collected to simulate conditions prototypic of both a fluidized bed coal combustor application and a space environment application. Both sets of experiment data show good agreement with the heat pipe analytical model. The heat transfer performance of the heat pipe proved reliable over a substantial period of operation and over much thermal cycling. Additional testing of longer heat pipes under controlled laboratory conditions will be necessary to determine performance limitations and to complete the design code validation.

A baseline projection of energy consumption is needed to estimate the potential energy savings from proposed transport technology and operational improvements. The Reference Energy System projection by Brookhaven National Laboratories and that which Stanford Research Institute produced for Gulf Oil are reviewed here. Attention is focused on the growth rate assumptions of the forecasts and the allowances made for the sensitivity of transport demand and technological efficiency to fuel price changes. The alternative trajectories of energy use are examined for automobile, bus and intercity air and rail passenger travel, and also for freight movement. Little, if any, justification can be found for many of the assumptions used to estimate transport demand and energy intensiveness. The assumptions underlying the Brookhaven National Laboratories projections are more explicit on changes in energy efficiency and energy price and shifts in transport patterns. However, the relationship of automobile travel, the largest component, to energy price is not specified clearly. The Stanford projection is based on seemingly arbitrary assumptions about changes in travel patterns and energy efficiency with no reference to the market process which must bring them about. It is concluded that the Brookhaven projection is a reasonable interim benchmark. Its structure should improve by …