Apparent excessive concentrations of atmospheric contamination which were reported to be associated with an inert-gas-shielded consumable electrode arc wielding operation were studied to evaluate the potential health hazards. A study was made of the concentrations of metal fume and gaseous products of the operation as well as the spectrum of ultraviolet radiation. Recommendations for necessary controls were made.

Report describing the results of the cupferron extraction-copper spark method in determining the impurity elements in plutonium metal. This was required the 234-5 Project analytical program.

Report describing methods of determining trace impurities in plutonium in connection with the Metal Fabrication Process. The methods included are the cupferron extraction-copper spark method and the direct copper spark method.

This report follows work with the purposes of determining the minimum amount of nitric acid required to dissolve slurries of stored metal waste, determining the stability of such metastable solutions as a function of their chemical compositions - primarily acidity - versus time and temperature, and to define a feed suitable for a low-acid TBP process flowsheet, and to indicate the range of variations in composition which can be tolerated for plant operation.

Neutron attenuation in the old pile shields is dependent more and more on the slowing down characteristics of the iron as the hydrogen is baked out of the masonite. For neutrons above 1 or 2 Mev, iron does a good job by inelastic scattering. However, below this energy attenuation can be done only by the gradual moderation by elastic scattering to thermal energies with subsequent capture in the iron. Since iron is heavy and thus a poor moderator, there is a good possibility that many neutrons of intermediate energy will leak out of a burned out shield. Also, iron has a large dip in its cross section at 25 Kev which might allow a large burst of neutrons at this energy to leak out. Measurements using a lucite moderator with gold foil detectors indicate a large leakage of neutrons of intermediate energy, but interpretation of these measurements is difficult. These considerations prompted an attempt to get a rough idea of the energy distribution of the leakage neutrons through pure iron using a simple qualitative theory.