In the Plowshare Program many calculations of the effects of underground explosions are made. Usually these are done on high-speed digital computers. The effects are calculated for ranges up to hundreds of meters from the explosion; at these ranges pressures become less than one kilobar. In order to make these calculations, information about the properties of the materials involved is required. Benedick [13] has developed a low-pressure, plane-wave lens using nitroguanidine. It was decided to use a similar lens in the Plowshare Program. A number of lenses were built using Benedick's technique. This report is of a study of simultaneity and pressure uniformity of these lenses, with some attempts at development of a reflection pressure vs particle velocity curve for them.

Abstract. The cross section of photoneutron production in Be9 at energies of 1.692, 1.720, and 1.78 Mev has been investigated using radioisotope gamma-ray sources. Neutron counting was by manganous sulfate bathe and a long counter. Gamma-ray counting was by a scintillation spectrometer consisting of a NaI(T1) scintillation crystal and a 256 channel pulse-height analyzer. A theoretical treatment of the P [right arrow] S transition near threshold using square-well potentials is also presented.

Critical mass experiments to be conducted at HAPO will require dilute and concentrated plutonium solutions. Since very high plutonium concentrations (~2,000 g/l) cannot be attained in pumpable solutions, solid plutonium compounds will be utilized for this phase of the work. Mixtures of plutonium oxide and polyethylene, methyl methacrylate or paraffin compacted in containers have been considers for use in highly-concentrated plutonium systems of known hydrogen to plutonium atomic ratio (H/Pu).

During the period when the writer mixing fuel element was being evaluated, a small Litton glass lathe and a General Electric Fillerarc welder were used to weld the mixing spool to the fuel element. Due to the condition of these units and to the numerous difficulties encountered with them, it was deemed necessary to design and procure a semi automatic welding unit which could weld in excess of three hundred fuel elements per day.

Abstract: "The neutrons from the linear pinch in Berkeley have been shown to originate from deuteron collisions with a large net center-of-mass velocity in one direction along the axis of the pinch tube. The interpretation of this result is that the neutron production associated with the pinch is non-thermonuclear in origin. The object of this paper is to review the experimental evidence and discuss a possible source of the neutron production."

Abstract: "Observations on the metabolism of chyle cholesterol in the rat show that exogenous cholesterol entering the systemic circulation in chyle exists in lipoproteins of low density (including chylomicrons) migrating with a high Sf rate (i.e.>400) in the ultracentrifuge. Following entry into the systemic circulation these molecules are rapidly removed from the plasma. This "clearing" of serum chyle cholesterol is a tissue phenomenon, the liver being the predominant site. Within the liver the chyle cholesterol esters are at least partially hydrolyzed; hydrolysis apparently does not occur in the plasma to any appreciable extent. After its entry into the liver exogenous cholesterol, if normally metabolized, presumably mixes with and becomes indistinguishable from cholesterol produced by endogenous synthesis."

Due to some lack of knowledge of the energy per fission, there has been some uncertainty over the absolute power of the Bulk Shielding Reactor. This report analyzes measurements to state the absolute power of the BSR within a few percent.

Abstract: "The spectrum of plutonium has been observed over the temperature range of 2000 to 2600 C and a wavelength coverage of 3476 to 6888 A. The spectrum was excited in a modified King furnace."

Introduction: "This report is an extension of NAA-SR-Memo-178. The results show the number of control rods as a function of the amount of reactivity to be controlled. Numerical solutions are given for a typical example and are readily obtainable for other cases."

Leaching and filtration tests were conducted on dump samples and current residues from Afrikander Lease and Babrosco properties on the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

The following report examines the fission counter, fission plates and activation results of the neutron energy distribution in the center of the Los Alamos plutonium reactor.

Abstract. to estimate the oxygen picked up by thorium in casting a rapid method of running the acid insoluble content was developed. the quickest procedure consists of reacting with mixed acids, fuming with perchloric and filtration to separate the "free" thorium from the "combined". The precipitate is ignited and weighed as thorium dioxide.