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Purex and Redox plants operated satisfactorily. Pu production exceeded commitments. The continuous calciners in UO{sub 3} plant experienced difficulty, but the monthly commitment was exceeded. Capital costs for conversion of B plant to recover Cs and Ce have increased. For future processing of E metal, several 3-ton batches were dissolved in Redox. The continuous Task I prototype is being tested for startup of production facilities. Redox product solutions generally have higher waste losses than these from Purex material. The continuous anion exchange prototype will also be tested. Engineering studies were completed of two facets of Purex Phase II expansion, plant conversion to two cycles, and expansion to a rate of 25.8 tons U/day. A proposal requests authority to expand Purex to capacity factor 3.2 along with the two-cycle conversion. The Pu trifluoride process review indicated that conversion to the PuF3 process is not likely. Separations plant dissolver capacity potential for the next 5 yr was studied. (DLC)

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This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, July 1957. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

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This report addresses the bibliography on radiochemical processing of irradiated fuel elements.

This document details activities of the irradiation processing department during the month of June 1957. A general summary is included at the start of the report, after which the report is divided into the following sections: research and engineering operations; production and reactor operations; facilities engineering operation; employee relations operation; and financial operation.

This document details the activities of the Fuels Preparation Department during the month of June 1957.

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The feasibility of a 150 Mwe aqueous homogeneous nuclear power plant was investigated by a joint study team of the Nuclear Power Group and The Babcock & Wilcox Company. In this concept, the reactor is a single-fluid two-region design in which the fuel solution circulates through the thoria pellet blanket as the coolant. Componeats and plant arrangement were designed to provide maximum overhead accessibility for maintenance. All components in contact with reactor fuel at high pressure are themselves enclosed in close-fitting high-pressure containment envelopes. (auth)

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The second All-Ti loop, 1OOA loop H, was placed in operation for more than 400 hr with UO/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ solution at 250 deg C and -- 1000 psi. A fourth test of the mockup of the Zircaloy-2--stainless steel transition joint used in the HRT reactor vessel was completed. The joint and bellows functioned properly and were leaktight. The series of long-term runs at 200, 250, and 300 deg C with solution proposed for use in the HRT was concluded. Stainless steel and Ti stress specimens exposed during the latter 13,000 hr of these tests gave no evidence of stress-corrosion cracking. Results of a study of the effect of heat treatment on corrosion of type 347 stainless steel are presented. Pretreatment of stainless steel for 100 hr at 250 deg C with oxygenated H/sub 2/O containing 100 or 200 ppm Cr/sup 6+/ as CrO/sub 3/ decreased initial weight losses on subsequent exposures to UO/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ solutions. Stress-corrosion cracking of stainless steel in UO/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ solutions is described. A number of alloys of Zr were corrosion tested in simulated HRT core solutions at 300 deg C. Type 347 stainless steel, surface hardened either by malcomizing or Thermospray 16-C, corroded …

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A method is described for routine urinalysis for Po by plating on copper at room temperature from acid solution. A discussion is presented based on experience gained by this laboratory in working with the method over a four-year period. (auth)

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A calculation was performed to determine the highenergy portion of the gamma-ray flux at the surfacc of the uranium-aluminum BSF reactor. The flux was considered to consist entirely of the uncollided flux plus the Comptonscattered flux. The four sources of primary gamma rays included in the calculation were prompt fission gamma rays, capture gamma rays from aluminum, capture gamma rays from uranium, and fission-product decay gamma rays. These sources were divided into four energy groups. Although the assumptions used to calculate the Comptonscattered flux tended to over-estimate the actual spectrum, the calculated results were considerably lower than a previously measured spectrum. (auth)