The pilot charging of I & E fuel elements has been implemented at C-Reactor under Production Test IP-19-A. It was necessary to provide adequate tube protection against flow interruption by establishing proper trip setting on the Panellit pressure gauges. the administration of these Panellit trip settings is done by trip-before- boiling tube outlet temperature limits, which are similar in principle to the current instability limits. Trip-before-boiling limits for C-Reactor I & E fuel elements loadings are presented in this document.

Current Panellit protection procedures, termed instability limits, come from calculations based on steady state experiments. However, the actual conditions in a process tube following a plugging occurrence sufficient to cause unstable flow are transient rather than steady state, and cannot be determined with great precision except by transient state experimentation. As a result, a program was initiated by the thermal Hydraulics Operation of HLO to perform a series of transient heat transfer experiments which would define the process tube response to (1) rapid plugging in the process tube assembly, (2) slow plugging in the process tube assembly, and (3) power excursions above normal of varying amounts. Transient heat transfer experimentation on a large scale is not common and many difficulties have been encountered. After preliminary runs were made and reported, a further series of runs were planned and run which would include K as well as BDF type data and would define more closely the upper limit of the panellit protection. During the test runs, data from these transient experiments are recorded on high speed recording instruments, each of which has a calibration which is subject to change regardless of the efforts expended by the experimenters. This means that checking …

It is proposed that neutralized ORNL storage tank supernate waste be used as a feed for a waste processing development facility. An electrolytic cell can be installed to remove nitrate and ruthenium from the wastes prior to discharge to the soil disposal pits. This eliminates the hazards of nitrate and ruthenium in the ORNL soil disposal pits. In addition, a continuous ion exchange unit can be installed to study the isolation of fission products from a portion of the waste stream. The total waste stream can be processed by the ion exchange if desired. A six to eight inch diameter continuous ion exchange contactor is considered sufficient to remove cesium, strontium, and rare earths from 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of waste per day. The estimated installed cost of such a unit is about ,000. The labor and chemical operating cost at 100% overhead is estimated at .50 per day. Three types of electrolytic cells were considered. All of the cells remove about 90% of the ruthenium by plating on the cathode. It is expected that the degree of ruthenium removed may be increased by further laboratory development. The first cell type is the Ionics cell which converts NaNO/sub 3/ to …

In the conceutration and purification of Pu by cation exchange, the feed solution must be in the plus three valence state, but the nitrate solution from a solvent extraction process contains a high% of Pu/sup 4+/ and a small amount of Pu/sup 6+/. It was desired to find a reducing agent satisfactory for the reduction of Pu/sup 4+/ and Pu/sup 6+/ in Purex product streams and to make these streams suitable as cation exchange feed. The bisulfates met the requirements for speed and completeness of reduction in the feed material. (J.E.D.)

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The construction of a critical assembly is proposed for determining the characteristics of the PWAC Na-cooled, heterogeneous aircraft reactor design. The experimental facility would be located at the CANEL site. The site meteorology, hydrology, geology, and topography are considered; the facility and critical assembly design is shown, and the extent of hazards from accidents and sabotage is evaluated. (D.E.B.)

Seven illustrations are given for convenience in develop-ing operating procedures for disposal of PWR wastes. The illustrations include radioactive waste disposal systems for service building wastes, liquid effluents, solid and gaseous wastes, cooling water, steam system, and miscellaneous service lines. (J.E.D.)

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>A summary of the cooling load data for the SRE sodium coolant pump freeze seals is presented. (J.R.D.)

The first half of this quarter was in part a continuation of the shutdown of the last period and in part a shutdown recovery period. The second half of the quarter was devoted to high-energy physics and chemistry research and to the extension and improvement in techniques of producing secondary-particle beams. The principal physics research efforts were a continuation of the investigations of interactions of negative particles in hydrogen using the 10- inch liquid hydrogen bubble chamber; counter sludies of the pi /sup 0/ modes of heavy-meson and hyperon decay; and a series of twenty-one nuclear emulsion exposures to K-meson beams. During this period twenty emulsion stacks were exposed for thirteen external groups. Thirteen target bombardments were made for the chemistry group. (For preceding period see UCRJ-8021.) (M. H.R.)