Design philosophy, status of component development, operational procedures, and limitations of each section of the Oak Ridge large-scale, high-temperature, thoria slurry facility.

This manual represents the recommendations of the Instrumentation and Controls Division committee on Electrical and Electronic Symbols and Drawing that have been issued to date. Section I consists of copies of the American Standards Association Graphical Symbols for Electrical Diagrams, with certain variations or additions that have been recommended by the Committee to clarify or more positively identify the device or element symbolized. Since publication of the present ASA standards, certain elements, such as the transistor, have come into common use. Committee and represent the symbols have been selected after considerable study by the Committee and represent the symbols that seem to be standard Reference Information series, Interim E--1.

From introduction: "This is the sixth of a series of quarterly reports which will cover the progress and results from the conceptual design, economic evaluations and research and development work performed by the General Electric Company as part of the Nuclear Superheat Project."

Report documenting research and developments made by the Health Physics Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Review of methods by which the radial deposition mechanism was determined in experiments with simulated waste solutions are briefly reviewed.

Economic and hazards calculation of pot calcination of Purex and Thorex wastes.

The development of nuclear reactors and other sources of nuclear particles has provided the analyst with a new method which has been successfully applied to the determination of microgram and even submicrogram quantities of many elements. In this method, known as "radioactivation analysis," the element to be determined is "activated" through some type of nuclear reaction which produces a radioactive isotope of the element. Since the radioisotope produced decays with its own characteristic radiation and half-life, it is possible, through radiochemical measurements following radioactivation, to devise a method of analysis which is very specific for particular elements. Whenever necessary, the radioisotope is separated by chemical means and its radioactivity is then measured by some type of radiation counter.

Report documenting the ongoing research and developments of the Chemical Technology Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

From introduction: "this is the fifth of a series of quarterly reports which will cover the progress and results from the conceptual design, economic evaluations and research and development work performed by the General Electric Company as part of the Nuclear Superheat Project."

From introduction: "This is the seventh of a series of quarterly reports which will cover the progress and results from the conceptual design, economic evaluations and research and development work performed by the General Electric Company as part of the Nuclear Superheat Project."

Laboratory fabrication and testing of an inline densimeter.

Report containing ongoing projects and experiments undertaken by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Molten-Salt Reactor Program.

Report describing ongoing progress made at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Thermonuclear Division.

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.

Program written to perform polynomial least squares fits on the the IBM 7090 computer.

Experimental work concerned with the development of an inexpensive composite fuel plate with a high burnup potential for application in a 500°C sodium environment as Core B of the Enrico Fermi Fast Breeder Reactor.

Programming research in the construction of a translator to Oracle language from ALGOL.

Studies are being made on the recovery of thorium (and uranium) from granitic rock, since this source represents a very large potential thorium reserve for the nuclear power industry. In preliminary leaching studies on 16 granite samples (containing 8-95 ppm thorium and 1.5-16 ppm uranium), maximum recoveries of thorium and uranium ranged 30-85% and 15-65% respectively, and sulfuric acid consumption was high (30-120 lbs H2SO4 per ton of granite). A relatively high acidity was needed to obtain rapid and efficient dissolution of the soluble thorium fraction. The cost of treating granite was estimated at $3.50-5.20 per ton, variations within this range being dependent primarily on differences in acid consumption for different granites. Estimated costs per pound of thorium plus uranium recovered ranged $30-500.

The general solution to the basic differential equation d^4w/dy^4 +4w= -4f(y) is transformed from the primary form treated in most texts to an alternate form in which each integration constant corresponds to one edge condition at y=0. The relationships between the integration constants of the two forms are derived and the values for the transformed functions are tabulated. The particular solution is derived in general and given in unique form for various functional forms of f(y). Matrix notation is used throughout the derivations; however, a knowledge of matrix theory is not need for application of the results.

The experimental demonstration of fission product release from over heated reactor fuel is necessarily subject in many respects to the arbitrary conditions imposed by the experimenter. Since an almost infinite latitude exists in the choice of materials, atmospheres, gas, velocities, temperatures etc., some allowance for an extrapolation to alternate conditions is definitely in order. The conditions imposed in this study are best described as those most likely to maximize fission product release. Two of the most important variables not investigated in the present report are the influence of metal cladding and the difference in internal nuclear heating as opposed to external radiant heating. In addition a significant uncertainty exists in the understanding of diffusion through large masses such as might result from a scaled-up melt down in a reactor.

Report containing ongoing research and experiments of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Instrumentation and Controls Division.

Measurements of the interfacial tension between water and tributyl phosphate solutions were made for application to the analysis of Marengoni effect in solvent extraction. A 24 hr flame calcination run to product Th02 particles yielded 40% as product and 54% collected from the furnace walls and from a coarse particle trap. The elution rates of uranyl ion from Dowex 21K using sodium nitrate could be approximated by assuming apparent diffusion coefficients of 1.67 x 10^-7 and 1.18 x 10 ^-7 cm^2/sec, respectively for 960µ and 820µ resn while the corresponding apparent coefficients using sodium chloride were 1. 78 x 10^-7 and 1.27 x 1-^-7 cm^2/sec. The reacting surface of ThO2 Universal Match Co. pellets was determined as a function of fraction dissolved. The lead scews and companion nuts from both the multipurpose saw and dejacketing machine were coated with a baked on lubricant. In Zirflex decladding studies using 4.5 M NH4F - 0.5 M NH4NO3, the average dissolution rate of Zircaloy-2 was decreased only 10% when the overhead condensate was withdrawn and 1.0 M NH4OH was added to maintain the volume.

"An analysis is presented of the accidental release of activity following the operation of the NS "Savannah" at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation docks in Camden, New Jersey. Although a number of accidents are considered, the report is primarily concerned with the environmental activity levels and subsequent exposures which would result from the "maximum credible accident" (p. v).