This is a progress report of the production reactors on the Hanford Reservation for the month of October 1950. This report takes each division (e.g., manufacturing, medical, accounting, occupational safety, security, reactor operations, etc.) of the site and summarizes its accomplishments and employee relations for that month.

This memorandum concerns the relative activities of Argon 41 and Nitrogen 16 in the pile gas composed of 95 percent carbon dioxide and 5 percent air. The memorandum is dated November 16, 1950. (JL)

This paper addresses the reported problem of insufficient air flow through the Fiberglas filters for the air inlets in P-10 production hoods. Since it appears that the replacement of the contemplated filters with either louvers or grilles will not impose any forseen difficulties and will definitely assist in the ventilation design, this substitution has been accepted. Air flow through the grilles or louvers is to be designed to attain a minimum lineal velocity of 200 fpm through the openings.

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Part of the design and development work connected with the erection of the chemistry "cave" in the "GP" Building entailed an investigation of various protective measures for materials of construction. This work was based on the observations and recommendations of personnel engaged in work at a similar installation at Argonne National Laboratory.

The efficient prosecution of the research and process development on polonium, radium, actinium, waste disposal, and alpha-neutron sources requires the use of a wide variety of instrumental techniques such as: alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron counters and survey meters; emission, absorption, and mass spectroscopy: x-ray and electron diffraction; microbalances; and calorimeters. The complex and kaleidoscopic aspects of our research program require; (1) The application of standard instruments and techniques to a variety of problems; (2) The development of new techniques for the use of standard instruments; and (3) The development of new or improved Instruments. The sum of the above three categories constitutes the field of supporting research. The amplifier for counting pulses of wide dynamic range which was developed for counting beta particles in the presence of alphas has operated so satisfactorily that it has been decided to attempt to adopt it for neutron counting. Substantial improvement at medium counting rates has already been obtained but results at high counting rates are not as satisfactory. The development of a survey meter for monitoring fast neutrons has been under way for sometime. The attainment of higher efficiency has been attempted by the use of a dual-chambered counter tube. The tube …

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Plutonium has been chemically separated from seven different ores and the ratios of plutonium to uranium determined. This ratio was found to be fairly constant in pitchblende and monazite ores, in which the uranium content varied from 50% t o 0.24%, and substantially less in carnotite and fergusonite.

The first attempt to discover spontaneous fission in uranium was made by Libby, who, however, failed to detect it on account of the smallness of effect. In 1940, Petrzhak and Flerov, using more sensitive methods, discovered spontaneous fission in uranium and gave some rough estimates of the spontaneous fission decay constant of this substance. Subsequently, extensive experimental work on the subject has been performed by several investigators and will be quoted in the various sections. Bohr and Wheeler have given a theory of the effect based on the usual ideas of penetration of potential barriers. On this project spontaneous fission has been studied for the past several years in an effort to obtain a complete picture of the phenomenon. For this purpose the spontaneous fission decay constants {lambda} have been measured for separated isotopes of the heavy elements wherever possible. Moreover, the number {nu} of neutrons emitted per fission has been measured wherever feasible, and other characteristics of the spontaneous fission process have been studied. This report summarizes the spontaneous fission work done at Los Alamos up to January 1, 1945. A chronological record of the work is contained in the Los Alamos monthly reports.

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(1) A comprehensive investigation of methods for the preparation of hydrides of wolfram has been made. A wolfram (IV) hydride-aluminum hydride mixture has been prepared and its N{sub H} and thermal stability determined for its evaluation as a nuclear radiation shield material. Aluminum borohydride has been shown to reduce wolfram (VI) chloride to a subchloride. The alkali borohydrides also reduce hexavalent wolfram, but in no case has a wolfram borohydride been isolated. (2) An investigation of the chemical and physical properties of thorium borohydride, which pertain to its use as alow-temperature nuclear radiatin shield, is presented. Values are taken from the literature when available and are supplemented where necessary by our experimental investigation.

This memorandum provides procedures to be followed in handling uranium in 108-B.

Uranium can be rolled from cast metal or forged ingot to sheet satisfactory for cupping, deep drawing, and similar fabrication procedures by a combination of hot breakdown in the neighborhood of 600 deg C and warm finishing at 225 to 325 deg C. Sheet may also be obtained by hot rolling alone and by warm rolling alone, but the combination of hot and warm rolling afforded the best and most practical method to secure good quality sheet in the quantity required. The percent reduction by hot working does not appear to be critical, but at least 60% warm reduction is desirable to obtain complete and controlled grain size by recrystallization with high ductility and strength properties. Except for research investigation, rolling of uranium below 225 deg C is not recommended. Hot rolling of unplated uranium from the as-cast or as-forged surface is recommended, using a bath of 35% Li/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ plus 65% K/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ for a heating medium. No further preparation other than washing the salt from the hot rolled surface is required before warm rolling, and a bath of Meltemp No. 7 oil is recommended for warm rolling. Starting with an as-cast tensile strength averaging 60,000 psi, …

This report is a letter describing the reactivity gains of the Hanford Production Reactors.

A series of experiments on exposure of man and rats to tritium gas (HT) or tritiated water (HTO) are reported. In one human experiment 3 millicuries of HTO was administered in 200 milliliters of water by ingestion. Absorption into the blood stream was linear with time and complete in about 45 minutes. Body water turnover was measured over a period of six days by weighing all food and fluid intake and all excretory output. For four days water turnover was kept near normal (2.7 liters per day). During the last two days water turnover was increased to 12.8 liters per day. Tritium excretion rates was determined on eight other human subjects in which water turnover in which measured less precisely. The biological half-life of HTO in nine human subjects varied from 9 to 14 days on ad libitum and was reduced to 2 1/2 days in one subject on high water intake. The tritium activity in sweat, expired water vapor, septum and urine was found to be essentially the same as that in water from the blood. Rats were continually exposed to various concentrations of tritium in inspired air (0.000001 to 0.03 microcuries per ml) for periods up to 145 …