ABS>The results are presented of critical water height measurements made on close-packed lattices of Spert III, highly enriched, plate-type, stainless- steel-clad fuel elements. Experiments were conducted with cores containing no control rods and with cores containing a single, fully-inserted control rod. The "clean critical" data obtained in these experiments were used to test the validity of various aspects of a four-group, diffusion theory analysis of the full scale Spert III reactor. The results of the analyses of the rod-free and single-rodded critical lattices show that for such stainless steel cores k/sub eff/ can be calculated to within 1% DELTA k and that the Spert III control rod worth is calculable to a few tenths % DELTA k. (auth)

The costs of pot calcination of Purex and Thorex wastes were calculated. The wastes were assumed produced by a plant processing 1500 ton/year of U converter fuel at a burnup of 10,000 Mwd/ton and 270 ton/year of Th converter fuel at 20,000 Mwd/ton. Costs were calculated for processing Purex waste in acidic and reacidified forms and for processing Thorex wastes in acidic and reacidified forms and with constituents added for producing an acidic Thorex glass. Calcination vessel designs were right circular cylinders similar to those used in engineering development studies. Costs were calculated for processing in 6-, 12-, and 24-in.-dia vessels with a fixed length of 10 ft. Vessel costs used, based on estimates from private industry, were calculated for wastes decayed 120 days and 1, 3, 10, and 30 years after reactor discharge prior to calcination. Aging had negligible effect on costs, except as it permitted larger diameter vessels to be used, because vessel and operating costs were much larger than capital costs in all cases. The lowest cost was 0.87 x 10/sup -2/ mill/kwh/sub e/ for processing acidic Purex and Thorex wastes in 24-in.-dia vessels, and the highest was 5.0 x 10/sup -2/ mill/kwh/sub e/ for processing reacidified …

None

Quarterly report describing the progress and development of improved zirconium alloys for service in superheated water and steam. This report covers the period between July 1 to September 30, 1961.

None

None

This document details activities of the Irradiation Processing Department during the month of December 1961.

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation September 1961. Reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, operations research and synthesis, programming, and radiation protection operation are discussed.

The objective of this production test is to evaluate the behavior of large diameter tubular UO{sub 2} fuel elements during high temperature irradiation. Eighteen inch long tubular UO{sub 2} fuel elements 1.804 inch OD, 0.544 inch ID, in 0.060 inch Zircaloy-2 jackets will be irradiated in the KER loops either alone or in conjunction with other tests to exposures up to 3500 MWD/T of contained uranium.

The combination of a large reactor core with a sufficiently high flux level results in complications of the dynamic behavior of the core due to asymmetric xenon and temperature instabilities. In both phenomena, a local increase in neutron flux causes an increase in neutron multiplication in a surrounding zone. We consider here the instability associated with the delayed production of Xe{sup l35}, an isotope with a very high thermal neutron cross section. In order for this instability to result in flux oscillations., the neutron production in one part of the core must be independent of conditions in another part. Said in another way this means that the neutron migration area must be considerably less than the square of any core dimensions. Thus, even though the total reactor power is held constant, it may be possible that neutron leakage from one part of the reactor to another is insufficient to counteract the tendency of the local flux to continue increasing in the part of the reactor where it is already high. An asymmetry in the distribution of reactor power may thus tend to increase in After some initial confusion., it has been found that close monitoring of the local power trends …

K area emergency water backup studies have been hampered by poor data on flow through the reactor under various emergency conditions. Various tests have been run where emergency conditions have been simulated and flow measurements attempted. In all previous tests, the accuracy of the flow measurements have been questionable. Flow from the high-pressure crosstie can be measured by an orifice in the crosstie, but there has not been any method of measuring the service water contribution to total reactor flow under simulated emergency conditions. One method of measuring the total reactor flow regardless of its source is to determine the relationship between total flow through the reactor and the bottom of riser pressure. After this relationship has been determined for the flow range of interest, then flow to the reactor can be determined by reading bottom of riser pressure (BORP) and converting that to flow. The objective of this production test was to obtain the relationship between BORP and total reactor flow in the range of 10,000 gpm to 25,000 gpm. An additional objective of this test was to check the accuracy of the No. 2 pump discharge venturi.

None

The purpose of the test described in this report is to set an upper limit on shadowing of the DR Reactor vertical safety system control strength by residual boron-steel balls in the graphite stack. Such an experimental determination should permit less stringent total control requirements than those based presently on necessarily conservative assumptions.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Will Wilson, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Legality of an election levying a 30 cent ad valorem tax, when the notice provided for the tax to be levied for the years, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960, while the proposition voted on was not restricted as to certain years, and related questions.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Will Wilson, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Comptroller is precluded by Art. 10.14(3), V.C.S., from refunding the tax paid on special fuels connecting to and feeding the carburetor of a motor vehicle when the flow line connecting said tank and carburetor is temporarily cut off by valve pending use of such special fuels to operate stationary pumping units.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Will Wilson, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Comptroller of Public Accounts has the authority to promulgate a certain rule and regulation to be used in ascertaining the taxable gallons of Special Fuels used for incidental highway travel.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Will Wilson, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a ballot in a special election can be counted where the voter marks his ballot by some method other than drawing horizontal lines through the names of all candidates except the candidate of his choice.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Will Wilson, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Proper method of computing inheritance taxes on royalty interest of life tenant under submitted facts.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Will Wilson, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a county may legally purchase and own a house to be used for residential purposes by county employees on a rent free basis by furnishing the house for employees as part of their compensation and related question.

Laboratory heat transfer experiments were conduced to investigate fuel element temperatures which could result from coolant flow loss following a failure of the inlet piping to a process tube at a B, D, F, DR, or H reactor. The results are reported herein. Failure of the inlet coolant piping between the front header and the process tube on a reactor would stop the normal flow of cooling water to the fuel elements. Such a failure should immediately initiate a reactor shutdown, but the only means of removing the heat released during the post-shutdown period would be by reverse flow of hot water from the rear cross header. The subject experiments were conducted to determine what rear header pressure would be required to achieve adequate cooling of a BDF type reactor fuel assembly following such a piping rupture. Experimental studies were previously reported concerning failure of inlet piping to a K reactor geometry. The analytical techniques and experimental procedures used previously were also used in the present experiments.

In relation to evaluation of the block discharge mode of operation, data for comparison of fuel rupture performance of the old reactors have been assembled, and are transmitted herein. We have analyzed these data and the results are also transmitted in this report. Based on analysis of rupture experience from March through December, 1960, adjusted for differences in power, temperature, exposure, and throughput, there are no significant differences in fuel rupture performance between the old reactors. This statement does not imply that there are no differences in economic performance between reactors. Differences of this nature cannot be judged solely from the data of this report.

The objective of this supplement is to review the basis, justification and procedure so that this production test may be used permitting a determination of minimum downtime, when advisable for improving moderator coefficient data as function of exposure.

None

Earlier this year we briefly discussed the potential hazard of incurring an inadvertent uranium fuel element fire during discharge. This letter will provide data which will be of assistance to you in assessing the potential hazard, and in establishing charge-discharge procedures to minimize the probability of an irradiated fuel element lodged in the discharge area reaching aluminum jacket melting temperature without detection.