This document details activities of the Hanford Laboratories Operation during the month of March 1959. (FI)

An analysis was made of the fission-gas-release incident during the pressure pumpdown of the AE-6 Reactor resulting in the contamination of the reactor room and members of the operating staff. Descriptions are given of the normal core pumping procedures, procedural alterations during the incident, the discovery of the contamination and its possible causes, and the remedial actions taken. Steps taken to minimize the chance of the occurrence of the contamination in the future are listed. (B.O.G.)

A brief survey of decarboxylation reactions and carboxylation reactions that are known or presumed in biological systems will be presented. While a considerable number of amino acid decarboxylations are known, their mechanisms will not be included in the present discussion but will be reserved for a later paper in the symposium. The remaining decarboxylation reactions may be subdivided into oxidative and nonoxidative decarboxylations. In most cases, these reactions are practically irreversible except when coupled with suitable energy-yielding systems. The carboxylation reactions which are useful in the formation of carbon-carbon bonds in biological systems seem to fall into two or three groups: those which exhibit an apparent ATP requirement, and those which exhibit a reduced pyridine nucleotide requirement, and those which exhibit no apparent ATP requirement. Of the first group at least four cases, and possibly six or seven, are known, and one interpretation of them involves the preliminary formation of 'active' carbon dioxide, generally in the form of a carbonic acid-phosphoric acid anhydride. Those exhibiting no apparent ATP requirement seem to be susceptible to classifications as enol carboxylations in which the energy level of the substrate compound is high, rather than that of the carbon dioxide. There appear to be …

Power rate of rise measuring instrumentation is being procured for all of the Hanford piles, and a prototype installation is now in service at D reactor. This instrumentation is expected to provide valuable assistance to the pile operator during the start-up rise to operating power; in order to best utilize the instrument, procedures and limits must be determined on the basis of the relationship between the flux rate of change and the instrument response. As with any measuring instrument, there is an inherent delay in the power rate meter circuitry; in addition there are greater delays associated with the beat capacity of the metal and water and the transit time of the cooling water. Furthermore, reactivity changes from rod withdrawal and metal coefficient draping are not instantaneous, and the flux is not a simple function of the reactivity changes. Because of the time lags involved the rate meter response cannot be identical to the actual flux rate of change; however, an exact solution for this response in terms of all of the variables would be inordinately complex. The purpose of this study is to show approximately the changes in power level or rate which might occur in practice relative to …

This test will determine approximately the relationship between the power rate of rise indicated by the power rate meter and the actual pile power, rising period, and power rate. The actual pile power and power rate cannot be measured accurately during rapidly changing conditions; it is the intent of this test primarily to demonstrate that rate of rise protection offered by the power rate meter an be calculated to the same order of accuracy as the measurements of actual conditions.

This document details activities of the Fuels Preparation Department during the month of March 1959. (FI)

This Hanford-General Electric Report to the Working Committee details activities in fuel element fabrication, canning, and testing during this reporting period.

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This test is designed to accomplish two primary objectives: (1) to attempt to verify ex-reactor corrosion data which indicated improved corrosion resistance of cast blank X-8001 alloy material compared with wrought blank, and (2) to attempt to verify the resistance to groove pitting type of corrosion attack previously observed on M-388 components. Ex-reactor tests of cast blank M-388 alloy in autoclaves using water as the corrosive media up to 360 C, and in flow loops up to 120 C have indicated that the corrosion resistance of the cast blank material is equivalent to, and probably superior to the corrosion resistance of wrought blank material. Metallographic examination of this material indicated a more uniform nickel dispersion in the aluminum as a probable explanation of this performance. The sporadic occurrence of severe groove pitting has seriously challenged the use of X-8001 nickel aluminum alloy as a fuel element cladding material. Although the actual cause of the groove pitting has not been determined, non-uniform dispersion of the nickel in the alloy is suspected. The cause of the non-uniform nickel dispersion or segregation has been located and virtually eliminated by removal of additional aluminum (scalping) from the ingots prior to fabrication of the components.

Production of Pu, UO{sub 3}, and Pu metal exceeded forecasts. The 2nd attempt at Purex to recover Zr-Nb resulted in about 1/3 recovery, contaminated with about 1% of the Ce. Palm losses to Purex U product were eliminated, and the Pu content was reduced 5 to 10{times}. Routing the dissolver rinses into 3WB concentrator resulted into improved rinsing efficiency. Unclarified feed was processed through Purex HA column. In a test for using B in Redox, the B was routed completely to the waste; it was not detectable in product streams beyond the first cycle. Almost 1000 g Palm was purified and converted to oxide. Ferrous ion catalyzed the reduction of Palm VI by hydrazine or semicarbazide. Coordination of E-metal and NPR reprocessing at Redox in multipurpose dissolver was studied. An interim fission product recovery program at Purex will be directed toward low-efficiency collection of Pm {sup 147}. Locations for critical incident alarms were selected. (DLC)

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, April, 1959. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation process, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

The hot press process has been altered so as to eliminate the slight wrinkling near the ID base. This was done by incorporating a three minute time delay in the pressing cycle. The pressing time was decreased to five minutes to restrict formation of the brittle intermetallic compound, Ni{sub 2}Al{sub 3}.

In this report, the equation (HW-55219-RD) expressing tube-wise rupture rate as a function of exposure, power, and temperature has been adjusted to include 1958 data.

This production test was designed to evaluate the suitability of low hydrogen dingot uranium as routine process material. Nine tubes of I and E fuel elements (6 dingot, 3 ingot) with 32 fuel elements in each tube, have recently been discharged at the C Reactor and this document contains the results of analyses made on the dimensional stability properties of this material.

This annual report (1958) from the Hanford Atomic Products Operation. Various programs are briefly described including irradiation processing, fuels preparation, chemical processing, research and development, and supporting operations.

The purpose of this report is to present the results of laboratory experiments in which coolant water flowed backwards through a ``C`` reactor process tube with operational charge-discharge front fittings under conditions of typical reactor rear header pressures and post-scram rear header water temperature and tube powers. This information is of value in planning and interpreting transient experiments investigating the consequences of the rupture of reactor front face piping to a single tube.

This monthly document details activities of the Hanford Operations Office during the month of March 1959. (FI)

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In anticipation of the availability of the phase-shifts and mixing parameters, which are being calculated by Bransden, Smith, and Tate for the elastic scattering of nucleons by deuterons (with tensor forces), the von Neuman density matrix and Racah algebra were used to derive expressions for the average value of the spin operator in the emerging beam of nucleons after single and double scattering from unpolarized deuterons. The values of the geometrical factors which appear in these expressions were calculated on an IBM-650 digital computing machine and are given in the form of tables. The range of the angular momentum quantum numbers was chosen to cover nucleon-nucleon and nucleon-deuteron prolems up to J, the total angular momentum, equal to five. (auth)

Revision of an Informal Memorandum Godiva II-Its Availability and Suitability for Radiation Effects Tests.'' W. J. Buckalew, comp. The Los Alamos Scientific Lab., recognizing the unique nuclear environment offered by Godiva II radiation bursts, has agreed to make thls facility available without charge to DOD contractors on a general schedule of 2 days each month for the performance of qualified radiation effects tests. The procedure for reserving time and space at the facility is outlined. A brief description of the facility is given. (W.D.M.)

A series of critical experiments with blocks of 2% U/sup 235/--enriched UF/sub 4/-C/sub 25/sub 5/H/sub 52/ was initiated at the ORN L Critical Experiments Facility. Thus far assemblies with H:U/sup 235/ atomic ratios of 195 and 294 were built in parallelepipedal and simulated cylindrical geometries, both reflected and unreflected. From the results the minimum critical masses for reflected spheres were determined to be 16.3 and 8.5 kg of U/sup 235/ for fuel mixtures with H:U atomic ratios of 195 and 294, respectively. The minimum critical masses for unreflected spheres of these two fuel mixtures are 24.3 and 12.7 kg of U/sup 235/ respsctively. (auth)

>The importance of prevention of fires and explosions involving uranium, zircomum, plutonium, and thorium, which are of particular interest to the nuclear energy program, made imperative the study of their ignition behavior and oxidation kinetics. Methods of measurements of ignition characteristics of uranium and zirconium were developed and used to determine the effects of variables, such as surface preparation, metallurgical history, specific area (sample size), additives to the metal, and oxygen content and presence of moisture in the oxidizing gas. The study of ignition characteristics was supported by study of the effects of similar variables on the kinetics of oxidation of uranium and zirconium and binary alloys of each. The oxidation of uranium always proceeded in two linear stages over the temperature range of 125 to 295 deg C at pressures of 20, 50, 200, and 800 mm of oxygen. The temperature dependences of both stages indicate an activation energy dependent on pressure. The presence of ten additive elements in uranium metal caused only very small effects on the oxidation. The oxidation of zirconium was independent of pressure and proceeded according to a cubic rate law over the temperature range from 400 to 900 deg C, with an activation energy …

Graphite specimens fully clad with Type 310 stainless, Type 446 stainless, or Inconel were irradiated in a 1000-psi CO/sub 2/ environment for a period of 4 weeks at approximately 1300 F followed by 1 week at 1500 F. The fast-neutron-plus-gmma dose rate was estimated at 8 x 10/sup 7/ rads per hr. The gas environment was sampled and replenished eight times during the experiment. After 60 hr at about 1350 F, the CO content had in creased from a negligible value to 3.6 vol. %. It then decreased steadily to a value of 0.4 vol. % at the end of 4 weeks. When the temperature was raised to 1500 F, the CO content increased to 1.9 vol, % in 100 hr and then decreased to 0.6 vol. %. The O content remained nearly constant throughout the experiment. Postirradiation examination and metallography revealed very little effect of the exposure on the cladding materials at the gas and graphite interfaces. (auth)

A controlled-temperature irradiation capsule was operated containing small fueled specimens at 160O to 1650 F. The design involved calculating the specimen heat-generation rate and designing an insulating gas gap around the specimens to achieve the desired temperature. Electric heaters were inserted to help control temperature. The thickness and composition of the gas gap were modified prior to operation on the basis of information on probable neutron flux obtained from a nuclear mock-ups and on the basis of information on the thermal resistance of various gas annuli obtained from a thermal mock-up. The desired irradiation temperature of 1625 F was achieved with a variation of sintering time 25 F. (auth)