Monthly magazine discussing natural resources, parks, hunting and fishing, and other information related to the outdoors in Texas.

Sanderson & Porter have carried out a series of studies over the last four years which indicate that the pebble-bed reactor way be an attractive way to obtain low-cost power. At the request of the Atomic Energy Commission, two design studies have been carried out on this concept at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The first of these a preliminary design of a 10-Mw(t) reactor experiment, the PRRE, was initiated September 10, and a report on the study was issued November 1960. The second phase of the work, a conceptual design study of a 330-Mw (e) central station, was initiated November 1, and is the subject of this report.

The objectives of this study have been to examine the problems of the pebble-bed reactor concept and to conceive a design of a facility for investigating the feasibility of this type of reactor. The design must provide for adequate leaktightness of the contaminated-gas system and adequate maintenance of contaminated components, the most vital feasibility questions of the concept.

Monthly newsletter of the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1, discussing the field of underground water. Topics include profiles of water conservation research, annual pre-plant soil moisture survey data, annual Winter Water Level measurement data, and information about the latest water conservation tips.

The objective is to establish, from test results, the relationship between pressure loss and orifice configuration, mass rate, and steam quality, for a Fuel Cycle fuel assembly.

A research and development program aimed at devising processes for the economical recovery of the potentially valuable long-lived fission products from Purex waste has been under wat at Hanford for several years. When this work has begun, the concentrated waste was primarily a nitric acid solution (6 to 10 M HNO3) containing the fission products and relatively small concentrations of iron, sulfate, and other corrosion products. Flowsheets based on classical separation schemes and rather similar to processes used by the Isotopes Division at the AEC's Oak Ridge operation served to separate the desired fission products from one another and from the corrosion products (1,2,3).These separation schemes employed careful step-wise pH adjustment to precipitate first the iron and then to separate the desired fission products from one another. The flowsheets were demonstrated on a pilot-plant scale with full-level plant waste. However, since the earlier work was complete, plant operations have been modified....

The crystal structures of the normal fatty acids of low molecular weight have been rather neglected until recently. Formic acid and acetic acid occur in the solid as hydrogen-bonded linear polymers, while several acids with eleven or more carbon atoms per molecule exist in the solid as dimers. The melting points of these acids, when plotted against number of carbon atoms, fall on two rather similar curves for even and odd numbers of carbon atoms, respectively, each with a minimum near five carbon atoms. These facts and hope of explaining the melting-point behavior led us to examine the structures of propionic and butyric acid crystals. These crystals have different structures, but both contain dimers.

A carrier-free separation of hafnium from several hundred milligrams of rare earth oxides by anion exchange from saturated HC1 solution is given. The procedure is completed in 4-8 hours and is suitable for remote control work.

This paper reports an extension of previous experimental work with Alfven waves. We consider hydromagnetic waves propagating in a cylindrical plasma in a uniform axial magnetic field. The copper tube is filled with highly ionized plasma by an electrically driven switch-on ionizing wave. After the tube is filled with plasma, a hydromagnetic wave is induced by a radial current flow from the small molybdenum electrode to the copper tube. The force produced by this radial current together with the static axial magnetic field displaces the plasma in the azimuthal direction, and a transverse wave is propagated in the axial direction, along magnetic field lines. The transient magnetic field associated with the wave is also in the azimuthal direction.

It is possible to generate a relatively uniform, highly ionized plasma by passing a powerful discharge between electrodes so arranged that the current is forced to flow across an initial strong magnetic field. The magnetic induction due to the discharge causes a bending of the original field. If the discharge is operated with a low-impedance current source, the electric breakdown starts in a limited region near the current-input connections (minimum-inductance path) and propagates as a well-defined front in the manner of a hydromagnetic shock wave. In this paper we analyze the phenomenon as a one-dimensional single-fluid hydromagnetic problem, neglecting dissipation behind the wave.

This reference manual describes the IBM 704 program called Kick, by which complete bubble chamber events are kinematically analyzed. Kick's input data is the output from the Pang program, which uses raw track measurements to spatially reconstruct the tracks, and fits appropriate curves to them.

"The problem of explaining the lack of radiative muon decay in an intermediate charged vector meson theory is discussed. A possible way of introducing the charged vector meson to the theory of weak interactions is outlined in which renormalization is retained. However, if this way is used, the anomalous magnetic moment is calculated to be large, which is in contradiction with expectation."

"The laboratory experiments and field testing which were carried out in the development of a homogeneous gas labeling device are described. Detailed drawings of the injector and its most critical components are included. Recommendations are made for a production model of the device along with estimated costs of construction."

"The previously found maximum in the cosmic radiation energy spectrum is discussed, and the possibility that it arises in part from a misinterpretation of the data due to oversimplifying assumptions about the composition of the beam is examined. The importance that lack of recognition of isotopic composition may have is pointed out, and it is clear that this importance is strongly dependent on the measurements made and on the cut-off rigidity."

The methods of successive displacements or relaxation methods are investigated for a class of nonlinear problems. In particular it is shown that these methods are applicable to a large class of nonlinear problems arising from variational problems which yield elliptic equations. Constructive existence and uniqueness theorems are presented for the discrete problem and criteria are given for a practical method of obtaining solutions. The example of a discrete Plateau problem is used to illustrate the feasibility of the results. The processes are also shown to apply to uniformly elliptic problems.

"The present work describes some computer-oriented techniques for the application of the laws of quantum mechanics to the problems of determining basic structure of diatomic molecules. At times, calculations of the type described here yield results which can be compared directly with experiment to check the validity of the hypotheses and technique used they may predict the results of unobserved experimental phenomena; and, in many instances, they provide quantities which are necessary for the interpretation of experimental data but which cannot be directly measured."

"A method and equipment are described for determining the surface parameters of contact required for heat transfer calculations. In this method, the output of a surface analyzer for one surface is recorded on one channel of magnetic tape and the output for the other surface of the contact pair on a second channel. The tape is played back to an analog computer which then integrates the analog voltage to compute the void volume thickness, the number of contact points, and the ratio of metallic contact area to the total area."

"Graft polymers were made by Co60 mutual irradiation of mixtures of styrene and methyl acrylate in contact Teflon. These graft copolymers were analyzed by infra-red absorption and their composition determined. The composition of the graft copolymer formed from styrene and methyl acrylate was different from that which is predicted by the copolymer composition equation."

"The understanding of interactions between the elementary particles, which no number thirty, and range from the massless neutrino to the Е with a mass of approximately 1320 Mev, in a prerequisite to the knowledge of the structure of matter. Although the complex aggregate of elementary particles which constitute matter displays properties different from those of the basic building blocks, nevertheless it is impossible to gain a firm knowledge of the behavior of matter without first ascertaining in the intrinsic properties of elementary particles, as well as the dynamics of their interactions. The present work is concerned with inelastic proton-proton scattering at 1.35 Bev, where single pion production predominates."

"This is the fourth Quarterly Report on Task II dealing with Methods Development for Radio-Tracing of Coal Product Hydrocarbons With Tritium. The problem of radio-chemical purity of traces is resolved by developing a new method of labeling with tritium that generates essentially no highly tagged side products or impurities."

Abstract: The acid hydrolysis of [Pt(NH3)3Cl] has been shown to occur to a measurable extent. for this reaction: [APt(NH3)cCl]+ + H2O [chemical equilibrium symbol with rate constant k-1 above and k1 below] [Pt(NH3)c(H2O)]++ + Cl-, the equilibrium quotient was measured at 25 degree C and 35 degree C. At 25 degree C this quotient was 8.4 x 10-5 at [Mu] (ionic strength) = 0 and 25 x 10-5 at [mu] = .318 M. This variation is consistent with the expected changes in activity coefficients. [Delta]H for the reaction was found to be approximately 0. The rate constant, k1 was 2.3 x 10-5 sec.-1 at 25 degree C and it was nearly independent of ionic strength. The acid hydrolysis provides a mechanism for the exchange of the chloride ligand and Cl-. Exchange experiments with Cl36 showed that in addition to the acid hydrolysis, a process, first order in both, [Pt(NH3)3Cl] and Cl- with a rate constant of 6. 10-5 sec.-1M.-1 contributes to the exchange. The behavior of the entire series of chloro-ammines of platinum(II) toward acid hydrolysis and chloride exchange has been summarized, and a likely mechanism for the process has been discussed.

Pu nitrate production was above revised forecast. 141 kCi Sr-90 was isolated in Purex and stored for decay; to date, 1190 kCi has been recovered from Purex wastes. Casks of Cs-137 and Sr-90 were turned over to AEC for ORNL. Production of UO{sub 3}, Pu metal buttons, and weapon component fabrication exceeded forecasts. Purex processing continued until April 14. The Purex neptunium campaign had low yield because of loss to waste system. The cartridge in the Purex co-decontamination column scrub section was replaced with a new design. After the Redox organic distillation pot was replaced, {gamma} activity in Redox recovered hexone increased 300 {times}; product quality returned to normal after the faulty steam traps were replaced. Fabricated parts underwent dimensional changes after machining and gaging; part dimensions have been altered to compensate. Design for the proposed caisson-lateral leak detection system was revised to contain 3 horizontal laterals beneath each tank and 7 vertical wells around each tank. A ratio exists between the Cs-137 in the coating waste solution and the total U in liquid and precipitate phases. (DLC)

This document details activities of the Fuels Preparation Department during the month of April 1961. (FI)

The projection welded brazed closure is being studied as a possible alternate method of closing coextruded Zircaloy-2 clad uranium fuel elements for the NPR. This closure consists essentially of projection welding the Zircaloy-2 cap to the element cladding followed by a fast resistance heating of the cap and exposed uranium face under pressure to braze the cap to the uranium face. The work to date has been entirely on 0.593 inch OD rods and 1.050 inch OD by 0.500 inch ID tubular elements. This closure has the advantage that the entire closure is completed in less than 5 seconds on one machine and consequently the element is at a temperature which would be detrimental to the Zircaloy-2 cladding and uranium bond for a very short time. The amount of uranium removed for this closure is reduced by a factor of 10 over conventional braze closure methods with a substantial savings in uranium and acid milling time. A braze material which is not toxic can be used to bond the cap to the uranium.