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The immediate objective of the LASL nuclear propulsion (Rover) program is the development of a heat exchanger reactor system utilizing uranium-graphite fuel elements and ammonia propellant. This program is regarded as the first step in the development of nuclear propulsion systems for missiles. The major tasks of the program include the investigation of materials at high temperatures, development of fuel elements, investigation of basic reactor characteristics, investigation of engine control problems, detailed engine design and ground testing. The organization and scheduling of the initial development program have been worked out in some detail. Only rather general ideas exist concerning the projection of this work beyond 1958.

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, March, 1956. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology; financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, employee relations, pile technology, safety and radiological sciences are discussed.

A sprawling group of buildings on an impressive campus site in the Berkeley hills provides the home of the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California. A succession of large accelerators has been built there, the latest of which is the Bevatron. It is the largest and highest-energy accelerator in operation at the present time. It was built and is operated under contract with the United States Atomic Energy Commission. It is of the type known as a proton synchrotron, of which there are two others in operation, one at the University of Birmingham, England, whose energy is 1 Bev (billion electron volts), and another at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, known as the Cosmotron, which operates at 3 Bev. The Bevatron accelerates protons (stripped nuclei of hydrogen atoms) to an energy of 6.2 Bev. The design was started in 1947 under the direction of Professor E. O. Lawrence, and although it was the product of collaboration of a large group of physicists and engineers, the original conception was due to William Brobeck who also contributed more than any other individual. A working quarter-scale model was built and operated in 1948 and 1949 to verify the correctness of the design concept. …

The author describes some of the changes that are now occurring or are likely to occur quite soon in the fast counting techniques. The author draws heavily on the information and advice of Dr. Clyde Wiegand and Mr. Quentin Kerns of the University of California Radiation Laboratory. The techniques the author mentions should be quite useful in several different types of experiments. The fast conicidence techniques are principally used for reducing background from accidental coincidences, for measuring times of flight of particles from one counter to another, and for measuring the life times of unstable particles.

After the first hydrocarbon bubble chambers were built by Donald Glaser in 1952, work was started at Chicago and Berkeley to find if liquid hydrogen could be used as the working fluid in a bubble chamber. In the fall of 1953, it was found by the Chicago group that superheated liquid hydrogen could be made to boil under the influence of ionizing radiation, but no tracks were observed. The observation of tracks at Berkeley a few months later completed the proof that hydrogen was a usable bubble chamber liquid. (Irradiated liquid nitrogen boils when superheated, but as of spring 1956 no one has seen tracks in liquid nitrogen.) In the past two years, the Chicago group has built several all-glass hydrogen chambers, the most recent of which is approximately 5.5 by 5.5 by 20 cm inside dimensions. Their chambers have been of the so-called clean variety (like Glaser's eariy ones), in which no boiling takes place unless ionizing particles aze present. They have used their latest chamber in an extensive study of the scattering of low-energy pions by protons.

Thioctic acid labeled with sulfur-35 has been prepared and i t s metabolism b y algae has been studied. It i s converted by the algae into a number of forms, all of which upon hydrolysis yield either the disulfide o r i t s sulfoxide. One of these constituted the major portion of the labeled material in the chloroplasts. Aerobic metabolism for some minutes i s required to produce this form. Preliminary studies of the chemical nature of this form suggest i t to be esterified on the carboxyl group with a moiety of very high lipid solubility.

This paper constitutes a review of the experimental events that led our laboratory to focus its attention on thioctic acid, a discussion of some of the purely chemical and physical properties of thioctic acid that this awakened interest prompted us to investigate, and a brief description of some of our recent biological investigations with thioctic acid.

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A brief description of the process is given, and details of work over a three-year period are summarized. The continuous production of Re metal by low- temperature fused salt electrolysis into a continuously circulating Hg cathcde has been demonstrated. The product is amenable to direct hot pressing or to powder preparation by distilling off the Hg. The production of pure BeCl/sub 2/ in good yield by direct chlorination of BeO has been demonstrated. The production of pure BeCl/sub 2/ in good yield by direct chlorination of beryl has been studied. The status of this work is not sufficiently advanced to permit valid conclusions as to ultimate success. The electrolytic cell and associated equipment and the chlorination equipment are described in detail. Operating procedures and representative results are given. The course for continued work is indicated. (auth)

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Reasons for storage to allow decay of irradiated fuel elements and possible methods of storage are given. The effects on storage and inventory costs of fuel element composition plant size, element geometry, reactor type, methods of irradiation and recycle, and type of metallurgic al handling are discussed. Estimates and comparisons are included for the decay for several typical fuels. The special problems associated with thorium fuel elements are considered. (auth)

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The consumable electrode arc melting of cold-compacted thorium powder has been developed to produce dense, clean, and soft ingots which can be hot rolled without cracking. By using a water-cooled copper crucible, contamination has been prevented and resultant ingots cleaner than the original power have been produced.

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