Results of a questionnaire survey are presented on reactor supervisor and operator education, experience, and training, and on certification procedures by reactor category. The questionnaires were obtained from 362 supervisors, 393 operators, 44 supervisor trainees, and 139 operator trainees.

Abstract: A description is given of the preparation and properties of a granular form of potassium hexacyanocobalt (II) ferrate (II) that is a highly selective absorbent for cesium ion. The material is suitable for use in a large-scale ion exchange column, and offers the possibility of isolating and concentrating Cs137 from fission product waste solutions that arise from the processing of nuclear fuels.

The ML-1 is a nuclearly heated, electrical power producing plant being developed for the U. S. atomic Energy commission and the U. S. Army by Aeroject-General Nucleonics. The power plant is a compact, water-moderated, gas-cooled, nuclear reactor, coupled in a single closed cycle to a gas driven turbine-compressor set and alternator. The plant is designed to produce power up to 500 Kw electrical,using 3 Mw thermal supplied by the reactor. It will operate 10,000 hours without refueling and have a plant life of five years. The total weight is less than 40 tons and no single package weighs more than 15 tons.

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to present, in the light of 20 years of reactor-operation experience at ORNL, what is being done in preparation for operation of the HFIR (High Flux Isotope Reactor). This paper considers only the areas of staffing and training; development of operating and maintenance procedures; preoperational testing of water systems; and testing of remote handling tools. The preparatory work in other areas such as the hydraulic tests, neutron tests, etc., is not covered in this presentation.

Over the past six years, the hiring practices of the Reactor Operations Division of Argonne National Laboratory have been conducted to determine the highest level of personnel who would be willing to remain in the position of reactor operator. We have discontinued the hiring of personnel who have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution or who are close to receiving such a degree. We now hire men from three general categories: (1) graduates from two-year technical institutes, (2) men who have had a number of years of experience in related operating jobs such as the petroleum industry or the chemical industry, and (3) men who have served in the nuclear programs of the armed forces. The following tests are given: (1) Wonderlic personnel Test, score above 43 percentile is mandatory, (2) Oral Directions Test, score above 80 percentile is expected, (3) mechanical Comprehension Test, score above 80 percentile is expected, (4) Arithmetic Reasoning Test, score above 60 percentile is expected, and (5) Primary Mental Abilities Test, used primarily as a check on the other tests given. Applicant is interviewed by at least three supervisors in the Division. All three supervisors must concur before an offer of employment is made.

A cladding failure monitor using the principle of detection of rare gas fission products in the cover gas system of liquid metal-cooled reactors, was developed which efficiently discriminates against AR41. This discrimination is accomplished by electrostatic precipitation of the rare gas daughter nuclides; since K41, the daughter of Ar41, is not radioactive, the activity of the precipitation is chiefly due to decay of various Rb and Cs fission products. The monitor equipment is described. Results of monitor testing in EBR-1 are reported; a simulated fuel road failure experiment was made which shows that the charged-wire cover gas monitoring principle should be useful in other sodium-cooled fast reactors systems.

Since 1943 when the oak Ridge Graphite Reactor was put into operation, literally thousands of individual irradiation have been performed in this reactor and in other ORNL research reactors. Over the years there have been many minor incidents caused by experiments. Such incidents have provided a basis cor continued improvement in experiment design review and safety-analysis procedures. The reports lists the Design Review and Safety Analysis (1) objectives, (2) principles and rules of design, and (3) limits of application of the review process. The report includes a review of 19 incidents at ORNL research reactors.

An apparatus has been developed which controls automatically the acidity of unbuffered solutions in the region from pH 4 to 10. A potentiostat is used to control the potential of an inert electrode on which the hydrogen gas-hydrogen ion reaction occurs in a solution saturated with hydrogen gas. The inert electrode acts as both a sensing element and a regulating electrode for the control of acidity. Current from the potentiostat passes through the inert electrode and an auxiliary polarizing electrode in an external compartment separated from the main cell by a salt bridge or porous plate. Transients which occur during the regulating action are presented and analyzed. The electrochemical pH-stat may be used to measure corrosion rates. Limitations of the device are discussed and a modification is proposed which makes use of a differential amplifier instead of a potentiostat.

Introduction. The reactivity difference associated with a reactor change can be simply related to the coincident changes in the neutron loss and generation rates. Unfortunately, in many instances these rates are difficult to measure directly during high-level operation; thus relativity values are normally found by other methods such as buckling calculations or low-level rising period measurements. However, with certain applicable control rod systems, it may be feasible to use heat generation rate in the rods as a measure of the reactivity-compensation effect. The neutron absorption rate in the Hanford reactor control rods can be determined under equilibrium conditions (and without disturbing these conditions) from the heat transfer rate to the control rod coolant. This information, when combined with a measurement of the change in reactor leakage caused by rod insertion, allows the calculation of control rod strength.

In contrast with previous EBR-1 reactor cores which were fueled with enriched uranium, the current Mark IV core is a 7 x 8-in. cylinder made of delta-stabilized plutonium alloyed with 1 1/4 w/o aluminum. The reactivity of the reactor is largely controlled by the movement of the entire outer blanket mounted on a hydraulic elevator with a travel of 80 inches. Partial meltdown occurred in November, 1955 during the last experiment scheduled for the core which was directed toward identifying the time constants associated with the components of the over-all reactivity coefficients. The incident is reported elsewhere. The changes in reactivity apparently come about as a result of changing from operation on the high temperature system to the low temperature system or vice versa. Continuous operation from day to day on either system does not effect any significant change in reactivity. Reactivity is not dependent on the duration of a run, but rather on the maximum power attained during that run.

Introduction. Sorption of gases by surfaces is the primary step in many heterogeneous processes. Because sorption processes are in general pressure-dependent, and very fast at normal pressures, low pressure system are mandatory. In gas-metal interaction studies the flash filament technique with ribbons and filaments and Wagener's technique with evaporated films allow observations at the requisite low pressures. However, these method have two major drawbacks: (1) Since the pressure changes during the sorption experiment, pressure-dependent parameters can only be obtained from indirect evidence; (2) The pressure change in the sorption cell during the experiment may cause significant interaction between the sample and the rest of the system and thus experimental data must be corrected for this effect. These drawbacks have been eliminated in a new approach based on a flow system in which the sample is exposed to constant pressure. This new technique has been employed for the study of adsorption and absorption of gases by filaments and evaporated films. This method can also be used for studying gas-metal solution equilibria.

A sector gauge was developed for routine measurement and recording of wall thicknesses between the ribs and at the top of installed aluminum reactor power tubes. The basic criteria selected for the device were that it would measure and record wall thickness over the length of the tube with an accuracy of plus or minus 2 mils at an average rate of 3 min per tube. An eddy-current measuring system was used in the device.

Training of Consumers Public Power District (CPPD) operating personnel for the Hallam Nuclear Power Facility (HNPF) was carried out under two formalized training programs. Both programs were organized and directed by Atomics International (AI). The first program was conducted in 1960 while he HNPF was under construction. The second program was begun in September 1961, prior to the initial HNPF dry critical loading experiment, and was completed in February 1963. The conventional portion of Sheldon Station has been a commercial power plant since July 1, 1961. Sheldon Station CPPD personnel were utilized extensively as instructors for the two formalized HNPF training programs and as responsible engineers for numerous test of the HNPF. CPPD shift personnel constituted the principal operating force throughout HNPF construction, reactor startup, and testing.