This report details activities at Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory for the month of June 1965.

The objective of this supplement is to authorize recharging of the thoria in the fringe zones of the B, C, D, KE, and KW Reactors. Initial charging is described in the parent document. This authorization will serve as an interim measure until Reactor Process Standards have been approved to authorize fringe blanket thoria irradiations.

This report defines the plan and purpose for the Palanquin post-shot exploration program. This program is necessary to obtain data that is needed in the understanding of the Palanquin experiment, and related explosion phenomena, which can be obtained in no other way.

Another interesting application of nuclear excavation would be a sea- level canal 160 miles long across Israel, connecting the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Aqaba (and thus the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean). Such a canal would be a strategically valuable alternate to the present Suez Canal and would probably contribute greatly to the economic development of the surrounding area. The difference in elevation between sea level and the Dead Sea (30 miles away and 1286 feet below sea level) might also be used to generate hydroelectric power. The maximum depth of excavation to be encountered is on the order of 1500 feet. Conventional methods of excavation of this magnitude are prohibitively expensive, if indeed possible, but it appears that nuclear explosives could be profitably applied to this situation.

A total burn-spectrographic method has been applied to the determination of trace concentrations of silicon in plutonium. The sample is oxidized to plutonium dioxide, mixed with a germanium dioxide-graphite mixture containing tin internal standard, packed into cupped graphite electrodes, and burned to completion in a high amperage direct current arc. Plutonium spectral interference is minimized by optical means and by use of a less intense silicon line. The sensitivity is thereby decreased but is still sufficient to determine 25 ppm of silicon in plutonium. The precision of the method is estimated to be �8% (relative standard deviation) at the 270 ppm level and �14% at 40 ppm.

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What is attempted here is to compute the energy absorbed in several elements from interactions with neutrons in the energy range of 0 to 14 Mev. In these calculations the results have been normalized to one neutron per square centimeter incident per gram of target material, thus making it a simpler matter to calculate energy absorbed in compounds containing these elements. In these calculations the single-collision approximation is assumed in that each neutron is considered to undergo only one collision in the sample, that scattered neutron escaping from the sample. The results are presented graphically for the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen; oxygen: ·aluminum, ·silicon, germanium, tantalum, and bismuth. Plotted in these figures is the energy transferred per gram of target material per single neutron per square centimeter incident as a function of the-incident neutron energy.

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This report describes the Coupled NOFLOW-FIPDIF computer program which has been written to perform the following two related functions: (1) Determination of the temperature attained by reactor materials following a loss of coolant accident. (2) Evaluation of the fission product inventory which would exist at any time (following loss of coolant).

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In accordance with agreements reached at the Systems Analysis Meeting held between WANL, AGC and SNPO personnel at WANL on 6 April 1965, an equation set has been developed which describes the NERVA systems. The equations are documented herein.

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This report addresses the buckling tests of scaled graphite barrel inner reflectors.

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From ninth meeting of the USAEC reactor decontamination information exchange group; Washington, District of Columbia, USA (1 Sep 1965). The decontamination activity described includes: laboratory studies to evaluate reagents, and actual decontamination of 2 steam generators at New Production Reactor. ln laboratory tests, a proprietery oxalic acid solution appeared to be more effective th:dn sny other tried. No excessive corrosion was noted. Special reegents to dissolve high fired ceramic core materials (UO/sub 2/ and PuO/sub 2/) are being developed and evaluated. Phosphorous acid, sulfuric acid and a mixture of sulfuric and nitric acids were effective. Corrosion of 304 stainless steel was low. Two N Reactor steam generators were decontaminated to facilitate inspection and repair. The APSUL procedure was tried, but control of concentrations was inadequate and decontamination factors were low, ranging from 1.6 to 9.0. No excessive corrosion was noted. (auth)

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