From abstract: This paper presents temperature-entropy and Mollier charts for sodium, and describes briefly the method used for their construction, based upon data from the literature.

From conclusions: There is a close enough correlation for most metals to give the chart some utility in estimating vapor pressure of metals.

Abstract: The fast and thermal neutron leakage from the 30 megawatt SGR-P4 reactor has been studied by three independent methods.

"A thorough analysis of the data obtained on depleted, natural, and enriched uranium lattices has been made. Consideration of the possible sources of discrepancies between theory and experiment has led to a suspicion of the calculated thermal neutron diffusion lengths. A series of diffusion length measurements in non-multiplying lattices of lead-cadmium alloy has been initiated. An analysis of some early exponential experiments on lattices proposed for a neutron production reactor has been carried out in order to determine whether experimental results on these more complicated structures are consistent with the analysis carried out for the "clean" lattices."

Report describing reactor components, operational characteristics, and operating instructions for the Model L-3 research reactor.

Purpose: Automatic recording equipment was designed for use with a high temperature Sykes experiment in which calorimetric measurements were to be made to temperatures approaching 2000* C. At such high temperatures, radiation becomes the dominant mechanism for heat transfer. The temperature differences which are used to determine the magnitude of this transfer no longer are directly proportional to it, but must be related by the Stefan-Boltzman law of radiation.

"Engineering was continued on the development of sodium cooled, graphite moderated type reactors. General studies were carried out as well as studies specifically devoted to the following: a. full scale poser-only plant, b. thirty-mega watt pilot plant, the SGR, c. sodium reactor experiment, the SRE. This work consisted of theoretical analysis of various aspects of nuclear performance; economic investigations of different fuel element, cooling system and plant arrangements; and experimental investigations related to the properties of certain materials and to the development of components. Preliminary consideration was given to alternative reactor arrangements employing liquid hydrocarbon moderators and high temperature coolants other than sodium. In addition to a summary of the general design features of the SRD, a program was prepared outlining the proposed use of this installation.

From abstract: A conceptual design study has been performed for a sodium cooled, graphite moderated, thermal power-breeder reactor utilizing the Thorium-Uranium 233 breeding cycle. Several aspects of the design of the system are considered but no attempt has been made to supply all the details. It appears that the design presented is feasible and will allow the production of economic power as well as full utilization of thorium resources.

"Measurements of the intra-cell neutron flux distributing for a proposed Uranium Production Reactor have been made using a mock-up of a portion of the reactor core. Thermal neutron and thorium resonance neutron flux-distributions were investigated. As a result of the experimental measurements on the first mock-up, a decrease in thorium content appeared necessary in the reactor design studies. Experiments are now in progress on a second mock-up in which this change has been made."

"Work has continued on high temperature methods for processing irradiated uranium fuel. Additional results have been obtained with fused halide treatment, solid scavengers and direct Pu distillation. With fussed fluorides about 95 per cent of the Pu was removed from a uranium sample, while treatment of uranium with HC1 gas removed almost all the Pu and many fission products. treatment of molten uranium with uranium oxide removed a substantial fraction of the fission products without removing Pu. Uranium carbide treatment results were similar to the oxide but not as effective. A small scale distillation of Pu from uranium showed that Raoult's law is obeyed."

"A study has been made of methods to prepare a fluid containing 1 gram of thorium per milliliter. The methods considered were solutions of thorium salts, suspensions of dry solids in water, and collodial suspensions. Thorium oxide, oxalate, and fluoride were tried in conjunction with one or more surface actants, but it was not possible to attain the required thorium concentration. Thorium hydrosol, produced by peptization of thorium hydroxide and subsequent electrodialysis, gave the necessary concentration of 1 gram per milliliter. A solution of 0.5 gram per milliliter was found to be stable to electron irradiation and did not flocculate upon shaking or standing. Selected surface actans which might be used as protective colloids were found to be unstable to electron irradiation.

"Continued progress has been made with the high temperature decontamination processes for irradiated uranium fuel. The fused salt treatment of molten uranium has been extended to UCl3. Plutonium and rare earths were extracted into the UCl3 phase. Direct plutonium distillation from molten irradiated uranium has been scaled up to the hundred gram scale. Solid scavenging experiments using uranium oxide, uranium carbide, and uranium nitride in contact with molten uranium have indicated fission product removal. A scaled-up investigation of the separation and recover of uranium from an SIR type ceramic fuel using the volatile fluoride process has indicated the feasibility of this separation method. The effect of irradiation on the decomposition of BrF3 has been further studies in experiments using the NAA statitron.'

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"An experiment to determine the effect of reactor irradiation on the thermal conductivity of uranium-impregnated graphite at elevated temperatures as described. The results show a decrease in the thermal conductivity saturating at [approximately] 60 percent at a temperature of 700 degrees C; at [approximately] 50 percent at a temperature of 1000 degrees C; and at [approximately] 25 percent at a temperature of 1300 degrees C. It was found that after irradiation at a given temperature, exposure at a higher temperature resulted in an increase in the thermal conductivity. The converse was also observed. Within the precision of measurement there was no difference in effed between temperature changes produced by varying the fission rate in the samples and changes produced by varying the power in an external heater."

A preliminary study has been made of a solid homogeneous reactor for stationary power plant application. The core consists of graphite spheres impregnated with uranium and thorium, and the coolant is bismuth. This concept possible offers advantages over other solid fuel reactor systems with respect to simplification of core structure, fuel fabrication and fuel handling, and reduction of fuel inventory external to the reactor. From the results of this preliminary study, it appears that the potential cost of electric power from this reactor is competitive with that from other reactor systems which have been proposed for the same application. The Po210 produced in the coolant presents a decontamination problem, but is also possibly a valuable by-producgt.

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"A series of thermal neutron diffusion length measurements has been made on non-multiplying lattice of lead-cadmium alloy rods in D2O. One-inch diameter rods in square lattice spacing of 4, 9, 6, 9, and 12 inches were used. Excellent agreement was found between theoretical and experimental values of the diffusion length. The analysis o the diffusion length measurement required a correction for the epithermal neutrons entering the exponential tank. These epithermal neutrons provided a distributed source of thermal neutrons upon slowing down in the lattice."

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Introduction - The work of the Chemical Development Group has included studies on the thermal and radiation stability of organic materials suitable for reactor coolants, the thermal and radiation stability of zirconium hydride, reactor safety devices involving chemical systems, and general analytical development.

"For a central station reactor power plant of the sodium-graphite type, two designs have been investigated. The first operates as a converter using slightly enriched uranium fuel and produces 150 electrical megawatts. The second operates as a thermal breeder using a U233-Th alloy fuel and produces 300 electrical megawatts. Consideration has also been given to the problem associated with the design and operation of the Sodium Reactor Experiment. All work related to the plutonium plus power sodium-graphite pilot plant, which was undertaken at an earlier date, has been completed."

Introduction: The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate that a liquid metal heat transfer system could be built and operated at very high temperatures.

"Scale-up work on high temperature fuel recovery processes has progressed to the point where the (high temperature) vacuum furnace for several operations to the hot cells has been completed and tested under operating conditions. Small scale experiments on high temperature methods for processing molten irradiated uranium fuel have been made with spent X-10 fuel slug pieces. The results of direct Pu evaporation, treatment with fused fluorides and oxide scavenging were every similar to those found with tracer experiments."

"Engineering pertinent to the development of the sodium-cooled, graphite-moderated type of reactor was continued. This included work on problems related to the zirconium canned moderator, low enrichment uranium fuel, sodium piping, secondary coolant system, shielding, and the control and safety elements. A large fraction of the work was devoted specifically to problems of the proposed Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE) configuration. In this connection, an integrated effort was initiated to prepare a complete preliminary design of the SRE by an early date. In addition, two alternate sodium-graphite reactor configurations were studied. One was an intermediate size, 145 thermal megawatt, unit optimized for the production of low cost plutonium. The second was a low power 10 thermal megawatt intended for power production, but in which sodium circulation through the core was entirely dependent upon thermal convection."

"Heat production resulting from the absorption of gamma ray photons in thermal shields and the leakage of neutrons and photons from ferritic thermal shields are investigated. The gamma rays considered arise from three types of reactor radiation -- thermal neutrons, fast neutrons, and core and reflector gammas. The energy spectra of the fast neutron leakage and absorption have been investigated in some detail because of the significant contribution of fast neutrons to the heating of the concrete biological shield."