The importance of maintaining high purity water for in-reactor reactor recirculation facilities is well known. High Purity water reduces corrosion and minimizes radiation to a tolerable level. The Coolant Testing Unit utilizes various resins to maintain the water quality in the in-reactor test facilities. The purposes of this report are: (1) to explain the processes of water conditioning for loop make-up water and special conditioning for loop clean up water; (2) to discuss the utilization and specifications of the resins; (3) to summarize the performance of these resins and the various problems encountered in their uses; (4) to show how some of these problems may be minimized or possibly be eliminated.

The current concepts for reprocessing of non-production reactor fuels at Hanford and other AEC sites were reviewed at the AEC Symposium on "Chemical Processing of Irradiated Fuels from Power, Test and Research Reactors" held at Richland on October 20 and 21, 1959. A report on the symposium will be issued early in 1960 in Bulletin TID-7583. Current planning calls for location of the receiving and storage, mechanical treatment, dissolution, clarification and solution storage facilities at the Uranium Recovery Plant. Dissolver solution is to be piped to the Redox Plant for separation and decontamination of the uranyl and plutonium nitrates. The decontaminated uranium product will be shipped as a uranyl nitrate solution to another AEC site for calcination. No further treatment of the plutonium nitrate is planned in the present project.

The moderator fluid will be injected into the PRTR calandrin through injectors located between the shroud tubes and at the bottom of the calandrin. It is important that the size and arrangement of the injectors be such that complete mixing of the moderator will occur and prevent hot sports from forming in the moderator. Such hot spots could lead to undesired changes in the moderating characteristics due to boiling within the moderator. Also of importance is the requirement that the injector should not produce excessive turbulence at the moderator surface thereby complicating moderator level control. To determine the extent of moderator mixing within the calandrin, experimental studies were made employing a full scale PRTR calandrin mockup.

The chemical processing industry relies heavily on the use of rotary pumps to move massive quantities of liquids. The rotating elements of these pumps, generally of the deep-well turbine type, are submerged in the solution being pumped. This singular factor sometimes imposes a severe limitation on the choice bearings because the liquids are frequently corrosive and have poor lubricity. At the Hanford Atomic Products Operation a further complication arises from the effects of radioactivity in the solutions being transferred. Radiation and temperature can and will cause physical damage to many substances, including certain potential bearing materials such as plastics. These factors, coupled with the economics of remote operation and maintenance, have lead to the need for a test program to screen and evaluate potential bearing and journal materials.

A knowledge of the surface tension of metals is a valuable tool in many aspects of physical metallurgy. Surface tension is a prime factor in such phenomena as swelling, nucleation and growth, and corrosion by liquid metals, and is also of importance in brazing. casting, and sintering. This survey was initiated to facilitate the selection of an experimental technique for determining the surface tension of uranium in support of current swelling studies of irradiated uranium. It is believed that swelling in uranium in support of current swelling; studies of small bubbles of fission gases (krypton and xenon), and the forces resisting the expansion of these bubbles are the elastic and plastic flow energies and surface tension of the metal. Experimental techniques for the determination of surface tension of solids are still in the development stage, but three techniques appear to be most feasible. These methods are: (1) the mechanical method, in which a tensile lead is used to counterbalance the contractile force of surface tension; (2) the thermal etching method, involving measurement of the dihedral angle at the root of etched grain boundaries; and (3) the electron diffraction method, which analyzes surface tension by the amount of lattice distortion it …

Two Zircaloy-clad capsules (GKH-14-19,20) containing two compacts each of high density PuO2-UO2 mixed crystal oxides were shipped to the MTR in December 2, 1958. The compacts contain 0.026 a/o PuO2, have densities of 91 percent of the theoretical value, and will generate the same specific power as an Al-1.8w/o Pu alloy rod of the same diameter would produce. Two capsules (GKH-14-21,22) have been prepared and contain three compacts each of low density, about 65 percent of the theoretical value, PuO2-UO2 mixed crystal oxides. It is tentatively planned to ship the last two capsules during January 1959.

The solids in Purex lww were first observed during flowsheet tests for recovery of fission products from plant wastes. Since the nature of this solid was not apparent from the flowsheet composition of lww, some work was performed to characterize this material. Although this work has been conducted over a period of about one year, it has been subordinate to the main one of testing flowsheets for fission product recovery. The solids have been observed in each of about six samples of plant lww that have been studied, and the centrifuged volume of solids has been about four percent in each case.

An inventory of the contaminated materials accumulated since the initiation of this project in June 1958, revealed a larger variety and quantity of materials that could be burned, than was specified for the initial scope. Therefore, it is desirable to revise the scope to permit handling the majority of these materials with the initially installed equipment.

The discharge of cooling water from the Hanford reactors introduce radioactive contaminants to the Columbia River. These materials may subsequently bring about exposure to human populations either through the direct use of the water for sanitary purposes or transfers of the radioisotopes into the food chains. It is therefore desirable to keep to a minimum the amounts of radioisotopes released to the river.

The fixation of aqueous radioactive wastes in a stable solid media by means of calcination has been the subject of considerable research and development effort. Several methods of doing this on a continuous basis have been devised and a few have been demonstrated to be feasible for the handling of non-radioactive or low activity simulated wastes. Currently an investigation of calcination by means of radiant-heat spray drying is being carried on by the Chemical Research Operation of the Hanford Laboratories Operation. The process consists of atomizing the liquid to be treated into the top of a cylindrical column, the walls of which are maintained at a high temperature. The resultant suspension of droplets in the water vapor formed by evaporation passes through successive zones of drying, calcination, possible chemical reaction or melting, and partial cooling as it proceeds down the tower. Separation of the resultant solids, steams, and uncondensable gas is made by conventional methods.

In solvent extraction purification processes such as are used at Hanford, the fuel elements or "slugs" from the reactor containing uranium, plutonium, and fission products are dissolved in nitric acid, adjusted to the required feed composition, and pumped to the solvent extraction columns. Figure 1 in a schematic diagram of such a solvent extraction process. In the A column, the uranium and the plutonium are extracted into an organic phase while the bulk of the fission products remain in the aqueous phase and leave as waste with the column raffinate.

Previously, W. S. Figg and T. W. Ambrose (HW-51767 Rev) have investigated the problem of flow decay following electrical power loss to the PRTR primary coolant pumps. However, since the time of their study many reactor piping changes have been made in the design; therefore, it has become advisable to re-examine the problem incorporating these changes.

It is anticipated that neptunium will be recovered in the Purex process by solvent extraction or ion exchange methods as a nitric acid solution of greater than 0.1 g. Np/1 and containing varying amounts of fission products, plutonium, uranium, and thorium, including Th234 (UX1). At the present time this solution is thermally concentrated in the Purex L-cell package to several grams of neptunium per liter. In this operation the solution is contaminated rather badly with plutonium and stainless steel corrosion products. The present specifications are for the neptunium final product to contain less than 0.1 weight percent plutonium, to be relatively free of gross metallic contaminates, and to be low enough in fission product game activity and Th234-Pa234 (UX1-UX2) beta activity to be handled without resorting to remote techniques.

Whenever fissile materials are handled in significant quantities such as in fuel element fabrication, separation processes, or in exponential and/or critical experiments a potential criticality hazard exists. The usual procedure which is followed by those persons conducting critical mass experiments is to either place the potential reactor in a heavily shielded cell or to conduct the experiments remotely in which case distance provides a measure of safety in the event of an unscheduled radiation outburst. In considering potential critically incidents, especially for the personnel not specifically engaged in critical mass studies, it is very likely that at the time of the incident neither the conditions of shielding nor distance will prevail for the personnel involved.

PuO2-UO2 Irradiation Capsules. Four capsules of Zircaloy-clad, sintered PuO2-UO2 mixed crystal oxides in a UO2 matrix are awaiting irradiation in the NTR.

Examination of Al- 1.65w/o Pu and Al- 12 w/o Si- 1.65 w/o Pu capsules irradiated 55- 60% burnout of the plutonium atoms revealed a 1.4% volume increase and no apparent microstructural changes. A four rod cluster containing Al-8 w/o Pu and Al-12 w/o Si-8 w/o Pu alloy cores is currently under irradiation in Loop 3 of KE Reactor at a water temperature of approximately 230C. A second cluster has been fabricated an is scheduled for charging late in 1958. Two seven-rod clusters for irradiation in KER are also being fabricated.

The purpose of this procedure is to present a detailed, chronological presentation of the preliminary decontamination and post decontamination steps necessary to fulfill the requirements of the Production Test Authorization IP-239-N. The procedure attempts to present the required operation in sufficient detail to successfully accomplish the intent of the test. Certain procedures involve operations of a standard nature and have not been elaborated upon to any great extent, as it is expected that the reactor operations and radiation monitoring personnel will implement these instructions according to standard operating procedures.

Nuclear safety in the dissolution of irradiated 0.95 U235 enriched fuel has been investigated. In particular, critical conditions of fuel of this enrichment in a 52-inch diameter dissolver crib were studied. Since a crib this size is not safe by geometry, dissolution procedures as well as maximum safe batch sizes were analyzed. Uranium-water lattices are normally studied in systems in which rods are uniformly dispersed in the moderator. The results of such a study for 1.34-inch diameter solid rods as well as I. and E. fuel having a 1.37-inch O.D. by a 0.48-inch I.D. have already reported.

The monocarbide and the mononitride of uranium are potentially useful ceramic nuclear fuel materials. This paper reports the results of exploratory investigations of the reactions of uranium monocarbide and uranium mononitride with boiling water. Uranium dioxide, chemically stable in deoxygenated boiling water, was used as a control.

Judging scratch depth or surface roughness by unaided visual inspection under controlled conditions, while rapid and popular, is not quantitative. Comparison methods improve reproducibility but are generally not applicable to evaluation of depths of single widely spaced scratches. Stylus-type contour recorders yield valuable scratch contour data but may themselves plow through soft materials and fine details. Depth measuring microscopes are particularly applicable to measurement of pinhole depth but do not graphically reveal profiles and provide only a small field of view. The comparatively large field of view and graphic display of contour provided by profile microscopes make them particularly suitable for evaluation scratch depth as well as surface roughness. A HAPO-constructed instrument has demonstrated an accuracy of +/- 50 micro inches in the range of 50 to 15,000 micro-inches scratch depth. It is a pocket-sized, portable, and can be used on horizontal and vertical surfaces by untrained persons with only brief instruction.

The following is an attempt to explain the method by which the precision associated with an observed volume reading in a process vessel (E-12, C-1) should be calculated based upon a regression analysis of cumulative data. There are two types of volume measurement consists of estimating the total volume in a vessel at some inventory time. A transfer measurement consists of estimating the volume between two levels within a tank.

Primary control of the PRTR is achieved by regulating the level of the heavy water moderator which is held in the reactor vessel by a helium gas balance system. Emergency shutdown is effected by a gas-balanced moderator dump system which drain the moderator from the calandria at a rapid rate. This report presents a quantitative appraisal of the reactivity effects due to moderator level changes in controlling or scramming the reactor. In conjunction with the reactivity calculations, solutions were obtained which yield an evaluation of vertical flux or power distributions for any positioning of the moderator level. Coupled with the radial distributions for a given fuel loading, this information is useful in obtaining the value of the maximum specific power associated with a given power of operation and moderator height. The calculations were made using VALPROD, a one dimensional, multigroup diffusion theory reactor code programmed for the IBM-650 computer.

Organic compounds have been considered for use as reactor coolants for two primary reasons. First, the high boiling points of the compounds would permit the reactor to operate at high temperature without the need for the high pressure required when water is used as a coolant. Secondly, the compounds are less corrosive than water and would permit the use of carbon steel rather than stainless steel components in the reactor. Unfortunately, the organic compounds proposed for use as reactor coolants have a greater tendency to leak than water and are thus more difficult to seal. A development program was established to evaluate the types of closures required to produce a leak-tight system. This report presents the results of the evaluation. Two proposed coolant compounds, monoisopropylbiphenyl (MIPB) and the eutectic mixture of 55 per cent ortho terphenyl, 25 per cent biphenyl, and 20 per cent meta terphenyl were used.

Uranium dioxide, uranium monocarbide, and uranium mononitride are potentially useful ceramic nuclear fuel materials. This paper reports the results of a determination of the melting points of these materials.