The magnitude of the energy gap in nuclear matter associated with a highly correlated ground state of the type believed to be important in the theory of superconductivity has been evaluated theoretically. The integral equation of Cooper, Mills, and Sessler is linearized and transformed into a form suitable for numerical solution. The energy gap, calculated by using an appropriate single-particle potential and the Gammel-Thaler two-body potential, is found to be a very strong function of the density of nuclear matter, and of the effective mass at the Fermi surface. It is concluded that the magnitude of the energy gap for nuclear matter should not be compared directly with experimental values for finite nuclei, although the results suggest that if the theory is extended to apply to finite nuclei it probably would be in agreement with experiment.

Report of the daily cash position for Sugar Land State Bank.

To insure a full evaluation of the effects of in-reactor loops with respect to all phases of the Plutonium Recycle Program, a separate study of each loop has been undertaken. An initial study was carried out which analyzed the effects of in-reactor loops using the design criteria for the gas loop as a basis. As soon as the design criteria for the H2O high pressure loop became available, a more detailed evaluation was completed for that loop. Recent completion of the scope description of the PRTR fuel element rupture test loop now permits an individual evaluation of this loop.

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

A possible phase transition in liquid He{sup 3} has been investigated theoretically by generalizing the Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer equations for the transition temperature in the manner suggested by Cooper, Mills, and Sessler. The equations are transformed into a form suitable for numerical solution and an expression is given for the transition temperature at which liquid He{sup 3} will change to highly correlated phase. Following a suggestion of Hottelson, it is shown that the phase transition is a consequence of the interaction of particles in relative D-states. The predicted value of the transition temperature depends on the assumed form of the effective single-particle potential and the interaction between He{sup 3} atoms. The most important aspects of the single-particle potential are related to the thermodynamic properties of the liquid just above the transition temperature. Two choices of the two-particle interaction, oonstituent with experiments, yield a second-order transition at a temperature between approximately 0.01 K and 0.1 K. The highly correlated phase should exhibit enhanced fluidity.

Tables present excess reactivity vs pile rising periods, excess reactivity vs pile falling periods, mint-nominal reactivity vs charge length, Pb-Cd nominal reactivity vs charge length, and nominal reactivity of poison splines.

Separation processes for production of pure rare earth oxides in useful quantities are discussed. A review of applications of these oxides in the ceramic industry in production of glasses, glazes, porcelain enamels, refractories, abrasives, electronic ceramics, and nuclear ceramics is also presented. 46 references.

This report details the proposed E-N, tritium-plutonium producing reactor loading is made up of striped columns of lithium-aluminum (mint) target slugs and enriched uranium (.947 w/o U{sup 235}) slugs. Both target and uranium slugs are of the I & E geometry. The ratio of mint (N) to uranium (E) is determined by the requirement of sufficient k-excess to sustain an operable reactor. The designer of the lattice loading has a choice between natural lithium (7-5 w/o Li{sup 6}) or lithium enriched to {approximately} 38.5 w/o Li{sup 6} for the mint slugs, assuming enriched or ``black`` mint is available. It is possible to show at least 0.8% increase in total conversion ratio for an E-N load for enriched mint (38.5 w/o Li{sup 6}) over natural mint. The basis of the calculations rests on measured E-N length ratios for equivalent neutron multiplicative properties for both types of mint (in a dry pile) plus analytical calculations. It is shown that both increased Pu and H{sup 3} production are obtained by using blacker mint. The basic phenomena are (1) increased resonance capture in U{sup 238} due to more uranium volume in the black mint E-N lattice and (2) more efficient utilization of neutrons in …

Boron-impregnated polyethylene tape was irradiated in the Engineering Test Reactor Critical Facility to study the effect of boron as a burnable poison in reactor fuel. Isotopic analysis of the boron was performed with a conventional CEC Model 21-103 mass spectrometer. The tape was distilled off and the residual boron was converted to trimethyl borate. The reaction mixture was analyzed without separation. Good precision was obtained with samples containing less than 0.5 mg. boron. Features of the mass spectrum of trimethyl borate are discussed. Other applications of the method are suggested. (auth)

From Tamalpais debris crushed to <53 mu , 5.5, 19.6, and 12.5 f the alpha, beta, and gamma activities, respectively, were leached in 72 hr at room temperature by a 100 to 1 weight excess of ground water from the Nevada test site. The extracted alpha-activity material was> 97% Pu/sup 239/ and < 3% Am/sup 241/, and the gamma was 92% Ru/sup106/, 4.7% ZrNb/sup 95/, and 3.1% Cs/137/. The beta activities could not be identified. The ground water leached 10 to 20 times as high a percentage of activity from Tamalpais debris as from Rainier debris in a previous study, but on a count rate basis the total activity released to the ground water was a factor of 2 greater for Rainier than for Tamalpais. Increasing the leaching temperature from room temperature to boiling doubled the amount of active material extracted. increasing the particle size clsssification from <53 to 5901190 mu decreased the extraction efficiently approximately 3- fold. (auth)

Abstract. The preparation and properties of a new explosive, liquid over the range -65 degrees F to +165 degrees F, are presented. This explosive, called NTN, is a 5/1/1 mole ration of nitromethane, tetranitromethane, 1 -nitropropane. The sensitivity and stability of NTN meet military requirements.

Abstract: The measurement and calculation of the reactivity absorbed by Xe135 as functions of time after shutdown for the SRE are described.

In some engineering applications it has become necessary to operate equipment containing small diameter rods or tubes oriented parallel to flow stream. In the case of several nuclear reactors such as the Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor and the S. S. Savannah Maritime Reactor, bundles of small diameter rods are used as the fuel elements. The situation also has application to heat exchangers. A method for accurately predicting the pressure drop characteristics of various bundle configurations would be helpful in the design and selection of equipment. Some progress has been made toward gaining a greater knowledge of the bundle characteristics under low temperature conditions. This report includes the development of relationship for the effect of temperature on pressure drop.

The following report describes the injection and trapping of high current electron beams in order to construct an electron gun and the first 2 Mev section of the accelerator.

During the report period, the nature of the ORNL supporting activities gradually changed, reflecting the progress in the conetruction of the N.S. Savannah. Design reviews continued to require considerable attention. The Inspection Engineering Dept. of the Jab. continued to act as an inspection agency for the ALC, witnessing inspections and tests during fabrication of components of the nuclear reactor system. An enviromnental analysis was made of safeguard aspects of operation of the N.S. Savannah at the NYSC site in Cannden. A study of the safety response of the reactor on the ORNL Analog Computer further defined the important role of the Doppler coefficient in controlling reactivity excursions. Health physics aspects of the operation were studied. Limited waste disposal studies indicated that sea disposal of exhausted demineralizer resins may be facilitated by casting the radioactive resins into concrete. Installation of a pressurized-water in-pile test loop in the ORR neared completion. The neutron flux distribution in the loop was determined by experimental measurements in a nuclear mockup of the in-pile section. Metallurgical activities included nil-ductility testing of steel from the reactor vessel, chemical analyses of primary system components, and investigations of the properties of electroless - nickel brazed joints. Limited fabrication studies …

The formation of heavy negative ions by the attachment of low-energy electrons to oxygen molecules was studied for small amounts of oxygen mixed with methane or carbon dioxide. The rate of attachment in both cases was found to depend on the electron energy, the pressure of the oxygen and the non-attaching gas, and on the kind of non-attaching gas. In general, the attachment increases as electron enprgy decreases or as either oxygen or total pressure increases. The value of the attachment coefficient in oxygencarbon dioxide mixtures is about 100 times its value in oxygen-methane mixtures. This large difference is probably due in part to differences in electron energy and partly to differences in the stabilizing qualities of the two molecules. Dissociative attachment, which should be pressure independent, does not occur at the low energies that were used in this work. Both methane and carbon dioxide are to differences in the stabilizing qualities of the two molecules. Dissociative attachment, which should be pressure independent, does not occur at the low energies that were used in this work. Both methane and carbon dioxide are sometimes used as filling gases for Geiger and proportional counters. The high sensitivity of carbon dioxide to oxygen …

During normal operation the NPR will function as a closed system and the coolant will be maintained at a high degree of purity. Periodically, however, the system will have to be opened for fuel element discharge and/or decontamination. During these periods the reactor will be operated on single pass cooling. The use of deionized and deoxygenated water as the single pass coolant is not economically feasible due to the large quantities of coolant that will be required. At present it appears that filtered water will be used for this purpose. Since filtered water contains substantial amounts of dissolved solids (approximately 100 parts per million), and since it is saturated with air, this type of operation will have to be investigated with regard to corrosion problems. A particularly serious problem will be present after the system has been decontaminated, since the high temperature oxide films will have been removed and the bars metal surfaces will be exposed to the coolant.

The general expression for the angular correlation between radiations produced in successive cascade transitions is derived by use of Racah algebra. The result is then specialized to the beta - gamma correlation and applied to two cases in which additional properties of the photon are specified, the circular polarization and the plane polarization. The prospect of testing time reversal and determining nuclear matrix element ratios by beta - gamma correlation measurements is explored using the nuclide Tm/sup 170/ as an example. The directional angular correlation between the 2.31-Mev beta and the subsequent 0.605-Mev gamma emitted in the decay of Sb/sup 124/ was measured as a function of the beta energy. The K-conversion coefficient of the 279-kev gamma following beta decay of Hg/sup 203/ was measured by comparing the x-ray and gamma intensities in a scintillation spectrometer. The measured valve of alpha /sub k/ = 0.195 plus or minus 0.014 indicates that the transition is M1 with E2 mixed to the extent of 63%. The angular correlation of the 107-1.24 Mev gamma cascade in Zn/sup 68/ following the decay of 68-min Ga/sup 68/ is shown. The Legendre polynomial expansion coefficients were deter-gular correlation in the decay of Sb/ sup 118/ was …

This document details activities of the irradiation processing department during the month of December, 1959. 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 study proposes improvements in the process water piping adjacent to the front and rear faces of these reactors. This report covers the external piping of the reactors from the incoming valve pit to the inlets of the outgoing retention basins.

The objectives of this production test detailed in this report is to evaluate the behavior during irradiation of tubular fuel elements with hot-headed end closures. With natural uranium twenty-inch tube- and-tube elements will be irradiated to a goal of 2500 MWD/T in the KER loops. The inner tubes will be closed by the hot-heading technique and the outer tubes will have normal welded closures.

Current information relative to the pyrophoricity of uranium is reviewed and aspects of this troublesome phenomenon which can support further investigation are considered. Information on metallic uranium fuel element fires, up to the present, provide an inadequate base for extrapolation to future operations because of existing uncertainty with respect to causative mechanisms and fire control techniques. Experience at Hanford reactors indicates conditions which tend to reduce the fuel element fire hazard. These include minimizing of the in-core residence time of a fuel element with a cladding defect which permits uranium corrosion, employment of removal and discharge techniques which do not contribute to the deterioration of the fuel element, and minimizing of the time interval between discharge and entry into the retention basin. (J.R.D.)

Report discussing information relative to the pyrophoricity of uranium for the purpose of reactor core fire safety. The report includes physical and chemical properties of uranium.

On the 0000-0800 shift, October 15, 1959, the delayed neutron monitor on KER Loop 2 gave a high coolant activity signal indicating a possible fuel element failure in this loop. KE reactor was shutdown immediately thereafter. This report is being written to summarize the events pertinent to this KE reactor scram and to discuss the results and significance of data from analyses on coolant and coupon samples taken from KER Loop 2.