The performances of aqueous-homogeneous (AHBR), molten-salt (MSBR), liquid-bismuth (LBBR), gas cooled graphite-moderated (GGBR), and deuterium-moderated gas-cooled (DGBR) breeder reactors were evaluated in respect to fuel yield, fuel cycle costs, and development status. A net electrical plant capability of 1000 Mwe was selected, and the fuel and fertile streams were processed continuously on-site.

The performances of aqueous-homogeneous (AHBR), molten-salt (MSBR), liquid-bismuth (LBBR), gas-cooled graphite-moderated (GCBR), and deuterium-moderated gas-cooled (DGBR) breeder reactors were evaluated in respect to fuel yield, fuel cycle costs, and development status. A net electrical plant capability of 1000 Mwe was selected, and the fuel and fertile streams were processed continuously on-site.

Introduction: This report describes the Integral Neutron Thermalization activities at General Atomic from October 1, 1962, through September 30, 1963.

Recent underground nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission have yielded data on the effects of contained nuclear explosions in four rock mediums: tuff, alluvium, rock salt, and granite. This report presents and compares data obtained primarily through exploratory mining and drilling into the postshot environment of 35 such events.

"Abstract: An evaluation of a modulator flux sensitive playback head to be used with an analog magnetic recorder for nuclear pulse information storage was made. The modulator head was found unsultable. A pulse stretching unit was constructed which takes pulses from a standard linear pulse amplifier and provides an output signal suitable for driving a recording head."

In any underground nuclear explosion, the shock front that propagates from the shot point carries with it energy from the explosion, and distributes this energy by doing work on the surrounding material. In the process, the material undergoes changes in both its physical and mechanical states. If enough energy is deposited in the material, it will vaporize or melt thus changing its physical state, or cause it to crush or crack. During the past few years, special computer codes have been developed for predicting the close-in phenomena of underground nuclear explosions using the laws of physics, and the knowledge of the properties of the materials in which the detonations occur. As a consequence, a better understanding of experimental observations and measurements has evolved.

The effects of explosion-induced ground motion must be evaluated in planning and executing any nuclear excavation project. For some projects ground use intensity may dictate the use of less-than-optimum yields to minimize damaging effects. In remote areas, weighing the alternatives of outright purchase of some property or use of smaller yields may be required. The cost of indemnifying owners against damage must be considered in any case. Discussions of the effects of ground motion on three broad types of facilities - engineered structures, residential buildings, and equipment required for the support of nuclear excavation operations - are presented. A method of predicting the response of single- and multi-storied buildings, the response spectrum technique, is discussed, with emphasis on the application of explosion-induced spectra.

Graphs have been made which show the nuclearly safe parameters for uranium rods in light water with uranium enrichments up to five weight percent U-235. These data were to serve as a guide to those persons who may be involved with the maintenance of nuclear safety in handling and processing operations with slightly enriched uranium fuel elements. The data are applicable to fuel element fabrication and processing operations, and in general to those operations involving the handling and storage of fuel elements apart from reactors.

"An analysis is presented of the accidental release of activity following the operation of the NS "Savannah" at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation docks in Camden, New Jersey. Although a number of accidents are considered, the report is primarily concerned with the environmental activity levels and subsequent exposures which would result from the "maximum credible accident" (p. v).

A strong motivation for metabolic investigations of essential metals lies with the simple fact that these elements are primordial metabolites and building blocks of living matter, a truism largely forgotten today. Among them, the metals of the first transition group display high physical and chemical flexibility: They can concomitantly coordinate natural or artificial ligands; they can regulate electron and proton transport; they can act as catalysts or as cofactors to catalysis.

The heavy metal intoxications involving the brain may be divided into two groups: One, in which the offending metal is clearly a poison, such as mercury or lead; and a second, in which the offending agent is normally an essential constituent of the body. The latter category would include manganese poisoning, copper poisoning (or Wilson's disease) and, if some recent data are valid, Huntington's chorea, in which iron seems to have been implicated. Our interest in the second category of diseases is due to the fact that these conditions represent special aberrations of normal homeostasis. Homeostasis is the sum of the processes which maintain constant structure, function and constitution in the body and its organs. In manganese poisoning, the homeostatic control is disturbed by virtue of oversupply of this element via an abnormal route (the respiratory tract), while in Wilson's disease homeostasis is disturbed by virtue of genetically transmitted abnormal avidity of the body for dietary copper. In the present paper, we will discuss first some of the clinical features of chronic manganese poisoning in order to raise some questions about extrapyramidal syndrome in general. Thereafter, we will allude to some investigations conducted at this center during the last ten …

Theoretically aqueous hydrazine will react with dissolved oxygen for form only nitrogen and water. Most of the experimental evidence, however, indicates that the reaction proceeds rather slowly in low-temperature systems. Tests are currently being conducted to determine whether or not it is feasible to use activated carbon to catalyze the reaction in filtered water. A system of this type would be useful in high temperature reactors when it becomes necessary to convert to single-pass operation.

In November 1952 an event took place which was to have a profound effect on political alignments of the world. This event was the detonation of "Mike", the first large thermonuclear device. The political implications of this experiment overshadowed what has come to be a major advance in the development of scientific tools; the experimentally verified, extremely high thermal neutron flux observed in Mike. Subsequent to this observation, the Atomic Energy Commission established a study program to investigate this particular characteristic of nuclear devices. Under the program, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, have studied the mechanisms of high fluxes, capture systematics, general stability characteristics, and more specifically, nuclear design to accomplish this massive neutron irradiation. Utilization of these greatly increased fluxes can be expected to significantly advance understanding in many fields.

A model has been developed for the analysis of current reversal chronopotentiograms in systems where the electrode process is followed by a homogeneous second order reaction. The model is analyzed using the IBM 7094 digital computer programed in FORTRAN language. Working curved, derived with the aid of dimensional analysis, can be used to evaluate rate constants from experimental data. The electroreducation of uranium (VI) to uranium (V) with subsequent second order disproportionation of uranium (V) has been studied as an experimental test of the model. Disproportionation rate constants thus obtained are in satisfactory agreement with previously reported values. Other possible applications of the model are discussed.

Activities in a program to develop techniques in the use of pulsed neutron sources to measure shutdown parameters related to large thermal power reactors are reported. In the course of this program, a new theory was suggested and an experimental apparatus was designed and built. Experiments were carried out to test the new model. This present report contains additional data and information extracted from the experiments at PG&E Humboldt Bay Power Reactor at Eureka, California. During the last days of 1963 a number of control rod and fuel bundle worth measurements were made in the ESADA Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor (EVESR) using the (k[beta]/[script l] technique. A description of the experiments is given in the text of the report and some results are reported. A computer program was written to perform the data analysis of the pulsed neutron experiments and the code is discussed in the Appendix.

Individual Samarkand wildtype D. melanogaster males were permitted to choose between either two white-eyed or two red-eyed females or between a red-eyed and a white-eyed female. Observations of the flies were made over a period of about two hours and premating periods, intermating periods and the durations of copulations were recorded.

Quarterly report describing progress on a project to develop and evaluate high-temperature tungsten alloys. This report discusses properties for specific base alloys at room temperature and under high temperatures.

The design status of the Experimental Fast Ceramic Reactor (EFCR) is described for the period up to October 31, 1961. The primary purpose of the facility is to study the dynamic behavior of a fast ceramic reactor, including the experimental demonstration of the effectiveness of the Doppler coefficient in limiting the power excursion following a rapid insertion of reactivity.

Report discussing the problem of predicting dose rates and of estimating the effectiveness of shielding from radiations resulting from nuclear explosions. A number of calculations and supporting experiments regarding the penetration and diffusion of gamma rays, neutrons, and electrons through air and bulk materials are summarized. Indications are given of gaps in such input information. A selection of 485 references from the unclassified literature is presented, of which 388 are cataloged as to source geometry and energy, absorber material and configuration, type of data presented, and method of calculation or experimental technique. These cataloged references include radiation field studies ranging from the point-source infinite-medium situation up through such complicated geometries as foxholes, shelters, and conventional structures. The other references are of a general or review nature or contain input spectral data.

The fabricability, elevated temperature strength, steam corrosion resistance, and hydrogen pickup of various binary, ternary, and quaternary alloys were studied experimentally.

In this study, a physical-numerical model is used to investigate processes important for cratering, or excavation, physics for high-explosive sources in desert alluvium. High explosives do not vaporize much of the geological environment surrounding the initial cavity containing the explosive. Thus, a relatively simple, and in some cases a well-known, equation of state exists for the high-explosive cavity gas for pressure greater than 1 atmosphere. However, nuclear explosives are known to vaporize a great deal of surrounding geological environment during the early part of cavity life history. This vaporized material is believed to condense late in the life history of the cavity, and prior to vent of the cavity gas to the atmosphere, such that the latent heat of condensation plays an important role in nuclear excavation. So far, no numerical-physical models of the response of a geologic environment to a nuclear explosive includes the effect of condensation on the hydrodynamics of late times. Thus, the calculation of the cavity pressure at late times including the effect of condensation is one of the current unsolved problems in the calculation of a crater formed by nuclear explosives. This study, then, develops a predictive, numerical-physical model for H.E. sources of the cavity …

Program written to perform polynomial least squares fits on the the IBM 7090 computer.

It has been shown that the time of burst of exploding wires can be predicted from known thermodynamic and electrical properties of the wire materials under some conditions. The mathematical relationships are a set of integrals (transformation time integrals) similar in form to the empirical "action integrals" sometimes used in exploding wire work. This paper discusses the use of the transformation time integrals to calculate the resistance and temperature of a wire as a function of time up to the time of burst and to investigate the effects of environment of the wire on the temperature, resistance, and time of burst.

A reliable spline disposal system is necessary for full utilization of the Poison Spline Control System. The spline choppers were not reliable enough so a spline coiler was developed and designed to replace the choppers. A Development Test, IP-306-X (HW-63820), was issued authorizing on-pile testing of the spline coiler at X area. This report closes the Development Test and discusses the use of spline coilers.