Report issued by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussing a review of the Radioisotopes Program during 1964. Research and experimental projects conducted during 1964 is presented. This report includes tables, illustrations, and photographs.

Technical report on the activities of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Biology Division for the report period including a list of 346 publication and lectures and 205 short articles by members of the division on their research and activities.

Report containing a description of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High-Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and its operation.

Report documenting the process of decontaminating low-activity fuel waste water via the Scavenging-Precipitation Ion-Exchange process. This includes analyses of the costs of the process as well as a description of the operation of the pilot plant.

Report issued by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussing a Health Physics Instrument Manual. Descriptions, characteristics, and applications of different instruments are presented. This report includes tables, illustrations, and photographs.

From introduction: "This is the thirteenth in a series of quarterly reports which will cover the progress and results from the conceptual design, economic evaluations and research and development work performed by the General Electric Company as part of the Nuclear Superheat Project."

One of a series of experiments to test the radiation corrosion of Zircaloy-2 and other possible reactor construction materials in UO2SO4 solutions under various radiation intensities, temperatures, solution compositions, and velocities of flow past specimens.

Study of the effects on Zircaloy-2 radiation corrosion of a high concentration of excess H2SO4 in a uranyl sulfate test solution using an in-pile loop experiment.

Electrodialysis in an ion-exchange membrane cell was shown to be technically feasible for the concentration of an azeotropic mixture of HF and water. A flowsheet is presented for recovery of anhydrous HF by distillation and electrodialysis of the azeotropic residue. In the electrodialysis step, 2.6 kwhr of energy per pound of anhydrous product was consumed, with electricity at 1¢ per kilowatt-hour, the total operating cost of the electrodialysis equipment alone, including amortization, would be 6¢ per pound of HF.

Thorium, a fertile material, is of interest to the Reactor Program in the production of U233. Thorium can be extracted and processed to a very pure bulk metal for fabrication into solid fertile elements. There are advantages, technical and economic, for using fabricated bulk thorium dioxide rather than the metal in some applications. It is the purpose of this paper to point out these advantages and to present briefly the technology related to fabrication, radiation damage and chemical processing of ThO2.

Activity and ionic impurity specifications are presented for Thorex thorium nitrate products. Two sets of specifications are given, one set for direct handling during refabrication of production reactor thorium metal slugs and the second for refabrication of future power reactor thorium metal elements by semi-remote technics. Consideration was given to the health hazard problems associated with each process step between the Thorex process and final refabricated source material in order to arrive at these specifications.

A new gas-liquid countercurrent system (the ANCO system from Anisole-Complex) for the enrichment of boron isotopes has been developed. It is believed that use of this systems will result in a considerably lower unit cost for enriched boron-10 than was previously possible. The system utilizes the exchange reaction between BF3 (gas) and BF3·anisole (liquid) to concentrate boron-10 in the liquid phase. The single stage isotopic separation factor for this system has been found to vary from 1.039 at 0°C to 1.029 at 30°C. The isotopic exchange reaction has been shown to be rapid. Vapor pressures of the complex as a function of temperature have been measured and the heat of formation of the complex determined. Laboratory experiments show that quantitative removal of the BF3 from the complex can be accomplished by heating. A complete miniature ANCO plant was constructed and operated in the laboratory to test the feasibility of the system. The system was found to operate efficiently with a minimum of attention, and to enrich the isotopes of boron as expected. Based upon the experience obtained with the laboratory ANCO unit, a pilot plant large enough to utilize a 6-inch diameter exchange column was designed. The design calculations of …

The conversion of UNH to UF4 and UF6, utilizing moving-bed techniques, is being studied; sufficient progress has been made that an evaluation of the process is warranted. The procedures under study, the Fluorox Process, have three major advantages: (1) substitution of HF for high-cost fluorine, (2) considerable reduction in HF requirements, and (3) marked reduction in plant-size and mechanical complexity.

New systems involving the exchange of boron between boron trifluoride and boron trifluoride addition compounds have been explored. These systems have large separation factors and potentially simple reflux mechanisms. A precise determination of this separation factor for the anisole-boron trifluoride system gave the value (see report). Boron exchange was found to occur between BF and BCl3. Several homogenous catalysts have been found which activate the hydrogen-water exchange, but none are adoptable to the production of deuterium because of the slow exchange rate. Platinum or platinum oxide may be usable as a heterogeneous catalyst with proper support or dispersion techniques. The high-pressure solubility of hydrogen in several amalgams was investigated in connection with a unique countercurrent exchange system. A proposed system involving isotopic exchange between lithium dipivaloylmethane in diethyl ether and lithium hydroxide in aqueous solution was shown to give little or no isotopic separation. Column studies of the carbonate system exchange reaction were concluded with a 40°C run. Slightly higher enrichment of N15 was obtained than at 30°C . The temperature dependence of all in this system was measured between 15 and 45°C. The factor increases with temperature, showing a tendency toward a maximum near 45°C. Isotopic exchange appears to …

Bench scale studies have been made of the recovery of uranium from acid leach liquors (and slurries) by solvent extracting with di (2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid in an organic diluent. Uranium may be stripped from the organic solvent by either alkaline or acidic reagents, the former having been studied in greater detail. On the basis of these tests, a recovery process may be considered which shows promise both from the standpoint of operation and chemical costs. Under proper conditions, vanadium can also be extracted by the di (2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid and stripping again may be accomplished with either acidic or alkaline reagents. Preliminary studies have been made of these possibilities. In addition to di (2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid, some other organophosphorus acids, have been cursorily examined in respect to their extraction and/or stripping performance.

The development of ionic methods for the determination of corrosion products in the highly radioactive Homogeneous Reactor (HR) fuels has been of major interest in the work of the Ionic Analyses Laboratory. Methods for the spectrophotometric determination of aluminum and for the polarographic determination of iron in HR fuels have been developed. The polarographic determination of molybdenum in uranyl sulfate solutions was studied. A polarographic method for the determination of zinc was developed. A fluorometric method for the determination of microgram amounts of fluoride was studied. Three organic reagents were investigated as precipitants for microgram quantities of zirconium in HR fuel. The automatic photometric titration technique was applied to the determination of thorium and of sulfate. A method was developed for the ionexchange separation and potentiometric titration of cobalt. The ultraviolet absorption spectra of technetium and rhenium were studied.

From introduction: "54 tables are given of the Z coefficients."

This report presents "Results of a critical literature review on pressure drop due to isothermal turbulent flow in noncircular geometries" (introduction).

This quarterly progress discusses the ongoing work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the quarter ending in March 10, 1952. Topics discussed include reactor theory and design, shielding research, materials research, and includes appendixes with supplemental information.

From abstract: "This report describes the decontamination of Oak Ridge National Laboratory Purex Pilot Plant facilities and presents an appraisal of the decontaminating techniques and reagents which were employed."

Report issued by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussing aqueous homogeneous reactors used in central-station power. As stated in the introduction, "it contains an evaluation of the potentiality of producing power only, as exhibited by aqueous homogeneous systems" (p. 6). This report includes tables, and illustrations.

Technical report covering the Homogeneous Reactor Experiment (HRE) reactor physics and engineering, out-of-pile corrosion, in-pile studies, recombination of hydrogen and oxygen, HRE chemical studies, experimental programs for the HRE, and long-range studies. [From Summary]

Quarterly technical report including reports on chemistry of source, fissionable, and structural elements, nuclear chemistry, radio-organic chemistry, chemistry of separations processes, chemical physics, radiation chemistry, and instrumentation. [From Abstract]