Abstract: "A theoretical and experimental investigation is made of the diffraction pattern produced by a slit, whose aperture varies uniformly from a constant value A to zero. The results of this investigation are applied to a proposed high speed camera. It is shown that diffraction effects are very serious and cannot be neglected. It seems, unless the suggested design of this high speed camera is changed, the camera will be of little use for accurate measurements, and photographs will show too much blue to give details."

Uranium has been successfully forged using a Lobdell-Nazel forging hammer and a forging temperature range of 500 to 650 degrees centigrade. Using standard forging techniques, the metal readily flowed at the temperature chosen. A noticeable increase in tensile strength, yield strength and percent elongation was obtained in forged metal as compared with cast metal. To obtain complete recrystallization and uniform grain size, a minimum of approximately 75 percent reduction in cross section by forging followed by an anneal within the range of 500 to 600 degrees C is required.

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. However, it is difficult to secure a uniform, controlled grain size by hot rolling only and warm rolling is time consuming because of the limited reduction per pass obtainable. The combination of hot and warm rolling afforded 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. In the temperature range considered (below 225 deg C), reduction is difficult and must be limited to one to two percent if edge cracking is to be avoided. Hot rolling of unplated uranium from the as-cast or as-forged surface is recommended, using a …

The relative physiological and toxicological properties of americium and plutonium have been studied following their intravenous administration to rats. The urinary and fecal excretion of americium was similar to that of plutonium administered as Pu(N03)4. The deposition of americium the tissues and organs of the rat was also similar to that observed for plutonium. The liver and the skeleton were the major sites of deposition. Zirconium citrate administered 15 minutes after injection of americium increased the urinary excretion of americium and decreased the amount found in the liver and the skeleton at 4 and 16 days. LD305° studies showed americium was slightly less toxic when given in the acute toxic range than was plutonium. The difference was, however, too slight to be important in establishing a larger tolerance dose for americium. Survival studies, hematological observations, bone marrow observations, comparison of tumor incidence and incidences of skeletal abnormalities indicated that americium and plutonium have essentially the same chronic toxicity when given on an equal basis. These studies support the conclusion that the tolerance values for americium should be essentially the same as those for plutonium.

A report about a thermionic converter which has been constructed for the purpose of evaluating the effect of radiation shields in the interelectrode space.

One characteristic of the corrosion of uranium is the accelerating destruction of the metal under both dry and humid conditions and throughout a wide temperature range. Another corrosion property is the fracturing and fragmentizing of the oxide products. This results in an accelerating or decelerating growth law being operative at a particular time. This time is determined by whether the oxide ruptures rapidly or slowly compared to the rate of growth of the unfractured oxide. The reaction with dry air is essentially a reaction with the contained oxygen. In water, under oxygen-free conditions, linear oxidation laws are observed. In steam, because UO/ sub 2/ is the product at temperatures below 250 C and U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ at temperatures above 250 C, different reaction rates occur in the two temperature ranges. The effects of a few alloying elements on the corrosion resistance of uranium are reviewed. Wartime research indicates that small additions of aluminum, molybdenum, nickel, and titanium have a slightly beneficial effect. Niobium, silicon, and zirconium increase substantially the corrosion resistance in water provided the alloy has had adequate heat treatment. There is some information that the addition of small amounts, less than 2%, of aluminum or silicon increases the …

The total neutron cross sections for normal uranium, U235, and Pu239 are reported as a continuous function of energy for neutron energies between 40 and 7500 Kev. Three additional measurements were made between 17 and 20 Mev. The data were obtained from a good geometry transmission experiment in which 1-in.-diameter cylindrical samples were interposed midway between a neutron source and a neutron counter spaced at about 20 in. separation. In general, the statistical errors were within +- 0.2 barn. Measurements on normal uranium were in agreement with those made at Wisconsin in 1950 (LA-1060). The total cross section curves are almost identical for the three materials and very similar to those of other heavy elements. This suggests that the total neutron cross section for other heavy elements can be predicted with some accuracy.

It was found that hydrogen is introduced into uranium during process-annealing in a fused salt bath. The increased hydrogen content reduces the tensile elongation and general formability of the metal. The partial removal could be affected by annealing in argon, helium, or nitrogen, and better by annealing in high vacuum at temperatures above 450°C. The effect of the hydrogen content on the tensile properties was confirmed by annealing in hydrogen. Tensile properties, the hydrogen content, and certain X-ray results after each annealing treatment are presented and briefly discussed

The stability of a pinched plasma equilibrium with a longitudinal magnetic field superimposed on the characteristic azimuthal magnetic field of the pinch current is studied theoretically. The linearized solutions are developed as helical perturbations of the plasma surface, and the behavior of these is given for the different cases of uniform longitudinal, longitudinal field zero inside the plasma, and for helices of the same and opposite sense to the helix which describes the total magnetic field. Very approximately, the conclusions are: that the longitudinal field has the effect of stabilizing short-wave perturbations, but that some long-wave perturbations remain unstable no matter how large the externally imposed longitudinal magnetic field.

The vapor pressure of nickel carbonyl was determined with material obtained by laboratory preparation with CO and Ni powder and by purifying commercial nickel carbonyl. The observed vapor pressure data were used in the derivation of the following equations which express the vapor pressure, P, of liquid nickel carbonyl and the sublimation pressure, P/sub s/, of the solid, respectively, as a function of the absolute temperature, T: log P = 7.88431578/T and log P/sub s/ 10.1897-2173/T. The average heat of vaporization is calculated to be 7.22 plus or minus 0.01 kcal per mole and the molecular heat of sublimation of Ni(CO)/sub 4/ is 9.94 plus or minus 0.11 kcal. Extrapolation to 760 mm Hg gives a boiling point of 42.2 deg C. The melting point of purified nickel carbonyl occurred at -17.2 deg C. The sensitivity of the melting point to the effect of impurities was demonstrated with commercial nickel carbonyl which melted at-19.4 deg C before purification, at --18.3 deg C after distillations at 0 deg C, and at -17.2 deg C after sublimation at -25 deg C. The vapor pressure of liquid nickel carbonyl at 0 deg C is of little value in evaluation of the purity of …

The effects of certain process variables on the production of uranium tetrafluoride from U3O8 on the 250 g. (uranium) scale, and smaller scales in a few cases, have been studied. It was found that the initial step (reduction of U3O8 to UO2 by hydrogen) is essentially complete in 15 minutes at 700 degree C. The rate of conversion was shown to be temperature dependent, the greatest increase in rate of conversion occurring in the vicinity of 500 degree C. In the conversion of UO2 to UF4 by hydrogen fluoride, the optimum temperature was found to be abut 600 degree C. For a reaction time of 5-1/2 hours, both higher and lower temperatures yielded less completely converted products. An increase in rate of conversion, both in reduction and hydro-fluorination, resulted when smaller quantities of material were used. Changes resulting from the present study and yielding an increased efficiency in the production process are described.

The index of refraction of PuO2 made by thermal decomposition of PU(C2O2, 6H2O gradually increases from a value < 1.9 to 2.40 as the decomposition temperature is increased from 150 degree to l000 degree C. This change in refractive index parallels a gradual change in the x-ray diffraction pattern from weak, diffuse lines for PuO2 ignited at 150° to sharp, well resolved lines for PuO2 ignited at 1000°C. Similar results are observed for PuO2 made by thermal decomposition of Pu2(C2O4)3*11H2O. The refractive index of PuO2 made from Pu metal at 170°C is 2.40 and is not affected by further ignition at higher temperatures, although crystal growth does occur. The rate of solution of PuO2 in an HCl-KI solution is greatest for samples prepared at low temperatures and decreases markedly for oxides ignited at higher temperatures. These observations hive been interpreted to mean that ignition at higher temperatures causes a gradual perfection of the originally highly distorted and impurity-containing PuO2 lattice obtained by low temperature decomposition of the oxalates and promotes the slow growth of crystallites. Both factors decrease the reactivity of the PuO2.

Certain oralloy (Oy) lattices were immersed in infinite water for determining critical masses at various low-Oy densities. Three Oy unit sizes were used. In a broad sense the experiment shows safe and unsafe conditions for handling heterogeneous Oy-water mixtures.

Abstract: "Static measurements have been made of the currents produced by Co-60 gamma irradiation of solid dielectric RG 8/U cable. Sensitivity curves are presented as a function of the magnitude and polarity of the collection voltage to 90 volts. It is shown that the current is due to a polarity- and voltage-sensitive ionization component and to a polarity- and voltage-insensitive component attributed to the Compton process. The total cable sensitivity at -90 volts, with saturation not achieved, was (11 +/- 1) x 10-(-12) coulomb per roentgen-meter of cable, or 0.08 percent of what one would expect from ionization in an air dielectric cable of this volume."

By use of small magnetic probes inserted into the discharge, the magnetic field distributions in the interior of a high-power pinched discharge have been measured as a function of time. From these data the current distributions can be deduced. By applying a static pressure calculation, in the cases when the radical pinch accelerations are small, the plasma pressure nkT in the pinch has been determined, with superimposed axial magnetic fields, and for stable and unstable configurations.

This report analyzes two samples of Nevada alluvium to measure density and analyze the variety of particles in both samples.

Several of the plutonium assay methods were reexamined as part of a continuing effort to make improvements in these frequently used analyses. This investigation included a study of the controlled-potential coulometric, amperometric, potentiometric, and photometric titration methods and their applications to assays of delta-stabilized and alpha plutonium metal.

During the spring and summer of 1976, 2144 water and water transported sediment samples were collected from 1685 locations spread over an approximate 21 000 km area of the northern end of the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming.

"This report describes work done in the Bozeman, Montana National Topographic Map Series (NTMS) quadrangle (1:250,000 scale) by the Hydrogeochemical and stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR). The HSSR...is designed to identify areas having higher than normal concentrations of uranium in ground waters, surface waters, and water-transported sediments" (p. 1). In this project, 1251 water and 1536 sediment samples were collected from 1586 locations to test for uranium levels.

This report presents uranium and other elemental data as part of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation which is designed to provide improved estimates of the availability and economics of nuclear fuel resources and to make available to industry information for use in the development and production of uranium resources.