The commercial feasibility of the electrolytic process for Th production has been demonstrated. The cell produced 7 lb. of good quality metal per hour. A cathode cooling system was developed. The major construction materials, Ni and graphite, were satisfactory. The process yield was 86%. (T.R.H.)

The installation and design of the HRT-Core Processing Plant are described in detail so that operation and maintenance of the plant may be made more effective. Process instruments will be described fully, but auxiliary instrumentation such as pressure gauges, rotameters, etc. will not be mentioned. Where detailed questions arise as to electrical circuitry or instrument connections, the drawings and specification sheets should be consulted. (auth)

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Discussions are included on energy sources and modes of local deposition of heat, fission fragment and BETA decay energy, neutron energy, energy release by BETA decay of activated nuclei, neutron flux distribution, gamma heating calculations, and integration of the gamma heating equation for simple cases. (M.H.R.)

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In the course of a recent experiment involving the stopping of negative K mesons in a 10-inch liquid hydrogen bubble chamber, an interesting new reaction was observed to take place. The chamber is traversed by many more negative {mu} mesons than K mesons, so that in the last 75,000 photographs, approximately 2500 {mu}{sup -} decays at rest have been observed. In the same pictures, several hundred {pi}{sup -} mesons have been observed to disappear at rest, presumably by one of the ''Panofsky reactions''. For tracks longer than 10 cm, it is possible to distinguish a stopping {mu} meson from a stopping {pi} meson by comparing its curved path (in a field of 11,000 gauss) with that of a calculated template. In addition to the normal {pi}{sup -} and {mu}{sup -} stoppings, we have observed 15 cases in which what appears (from curvature measurement) to be a {mu}{sup -} meson comes to rest in the hydrogen, and then gives rise to a secondary negative particle of 1.7 cm range, which in turn decays by emitting an electron. (A 4.1-Mev {mu} meson from {pi} - {mu} decay has a range of 1.0 cm.) The energy spectrum of the electrons from these 15 …

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.

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Studies were conducted to estimate at what powers the B, D, DR, F, and H Reactors will be limited by slug rupture frequencies after completion of project CG-558. Various approaches were used in the calculations. Methods of raising the reactors to the optimum power levels in a manner so as to protect against the possibility of an excessive number of slug ruptures were studied. This report discusses these studies and presents the conclusions drawn.

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Coatings examined were selected industrial finishes reported to have good resistance to corrosion and included epoxy resins reinforced with fiberglass. For screening purposes,this preliminary work was done on commercial sheet Mg to which had been applied a dichromate finish. The coatings were tested for impact resistance, corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance, and thermal shock resistance. Conclusions for further work are outlined.

A large number of ``hot spot`` slug failures characterized by intergranular corrosion of the aluminum can have occurred in the past year. The cause of this type of failure may be vertical displacement of one or more slugs in the slug columns. To determine if such displacement may reasonably be expected and to determine the cause and cure of the displacement a set of experiments have been performed in the 189-D laboratory. This document presents data which has been thus far collected. (1) Slugs which are cocked in a process tube are cause for severe-column bowing. Bowing is most severe when the cocked slug is in the downstream portion of the tube. Stopping flow will not realign bowed slugs. (2) Flow seating a slug column can cause slugs to cock and cocked slugs remain cocked even when backseated and the water flow is stopped. (3) When all slugs have undamaged ends and are well aligned with the tube ribs as well as fully seated against the rear nozzle insert, only minor bowing will occur, even when the upstream end of the slug column is restrained. (4) Anodized pieces behave erratically and in an unexplained manner. (5) Flows as much as …

A large portion of the slug failures which occurred during 1955 were of the ``hot-spot`` type. Observation of these failures has shown them to be the result of intergranular corrosion attack of the aluminum jacket. Intergranular corrosion is presently considered to occur in water temperature above 150 C; a flow disturbance which causes non-uniform coolant temperatures is suspected as the cause of failure.The present of a cocked slug, or a bowed slug column, might provide this flow disturbance. 189-D laboratory tests have shown that flow seating the slug charge allows slugs to cock in the tube. It has also been found that these cocked slugs may be lifted to close proximity of the tube wall by the axial load on the slug column due to process water flow. It is believed that in cases such as this, slug and coolant temperatures may become critical. Present charging procedures allow for flow seating of the slug column. The distance the column is flow seated varied from very little to 3 or 4 inches depending on the particular charge. It is believed that this practice can lead to the situation observed in the laboratory tests. During the past two months, there has been …

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