Quarterly report discussing fuel cell research and development work at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). This report describes work aimed at understanding and improving the performance of fuel cells having molten alkali-carbonate mixtures as electrolytes; the fuel cells operate at temperatures near 925 K.

This report consists of highlights for 1977 of Argonne National Laboratory's program on the development of lithium/metal sulfide batteries.

Quarterly progress report discussing projects by Argonne National Laboratories and subcontractors related to high-temperature batteries.

Quarterly progress report summarizing work done in Argonne National Laboratory's Applied Physics Division and Components Technology Division. The work in the Applied Physics Division includes reports on reactor safety program by members of the Reactor Safety Appraisals Group, Monte Carlo analysis of safety-related critical assembly experiments by members of the Theoretical Fast Reactor Physics Group, and Planning of Safety-Related (ZPR) Planning and Experiments Group. Work on reactor core thermal-hydraulic code development performed in the Components Technology Division is also included in this report.

Annual report of the Argonne National Laboratory Chemical Engineering Division regarding studies of nuclear waste migration in geologic media. This report discusses research regarding confinement of nuclear waste in geologic formations as a method of permanently disposing of the waste.

Test L5 simulated a hypothetical loss-of-flow accident in an LMFBR using three (plutonium, uranium) dioxide fuel elements of the FTR type. The test elements were irradiated before TREAT Test L5 in the General Electric Test Reactor to 8 at. % burnup at about 40 kW/m. The pre-irradiation in GETR caused a fuel-restructuring range characteristic of moderate-power structure relative to the FTR. The test transient was devised so that a power burst would be initiated at incipient cladding melting after the loss of flow. The test simulation corresponds to a scenario for FTR in which fuel in high-power-structure subassemblies slump, resulting in a power excursion. The remaining subassemblies are subjected to this power burst. Test L5 addressed the fuel-motion behavior of the subassemblies in this latter category. Data from test-vehicle sensors, hodoscope, and post-mortem examinations were used to construct the sequence of events within the test zone. From these observations, the fuel underwent a predominantly dispersive event just after reaching a peak power six times nominal at, or after, scram. The fuel motion was apparently driven by the release of entrained fission-product gases, since fuel vapor pressure was deliberately kept below significant levels for the transient. The test remains show a …

Annual report discussing results of environmental monitoring program to determine Argonne operations' effect on environment.

Ultrasonic inspections of austenitic stainless steel weld metal are particularly difficult because of the dendritic structure and anisotropy of the material. The acoustic properties of stainless steel weld metal are discussed. Data on frequency spectra and variations in longitudinal and shear velocities with wave-propagation direction are presented. The difference in detectability of artificial reflectors using shear waves of varying polarization is presented, and it is demonstrated that, in some cases, horizontally polarized shear waves can detect a reflector in the weld metal, whereas the traditional vertically polarized shear waves cannot.

Analysis of sodium void and Doppler reactivities in two full scale liquid metal fast breeder reactors.