This report describes the specifications, materials and the sequence of operations used to found and fabricate the first charge of enriched uranium fuel in the Experimental Breeder Reactor.

Experiments are described in which the pile-induced changes in electrical resistivity and elastic modulus of graphite were investigated as functions of the sample temperature during bombardment and the amount of bombardment. The data are for relatively low bombardment times (up to ca. 20 L-units) and temperatures (up to 340*C) and are not sufficiently extensive to permit unequivocal conclusions.

Corrosion rates of present reactor grade uranium were measured in boiling distilled water and were found to have higher values almost by a factor of two then previously reported corrosion rates of uranium. Mallinckrodt biscuit metal showed corrosion rates in the same medium somewhat lower than reactor grade uranium, and high purity metal prepared at Argonne National Laboratory corroded considerably less rapidly than the biscuit metal.