The first step in a proposed processing method for recovery of uranium from graphite-uranium fuels consists of oxidation of the fuel by oxygen to volatilize the carbon. Residue ash from the combustion step can be treated in a variety of ways to recover and purify the uranium. The combustion step may be caried out by contacting the solid fuel in a fixed or moving bed with a stream of oxygen-bearing gas in a tubular or annular reactor. Oxidizing gas may be introduced to the reactor at several points up the reactor and there may be continuous or intermittent addition of fresh fuel and removal of residue ash.

The first man-made nuclear reactor -- or "pile" as it was then called -- was rather hurriedly improvised and operated in a crowded space under the athletic bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago on December 2, 1942. Just prior to this time, there began the assembly of a group of physicists with an unusual assignment. They were determined that radiation hazards of unprecedented proportions must be coped with successfully in the conduct of reactor programs as planned. Since these physicists were to be concerned with the health of radiation workers, they were called health physicists. There was no formal instruction available to this first group of health physicists and they perforce received training as they felt their way by firsthand experience and by trial and error. Health physics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from the very beginning has been organized into three principal areas: applied activities, education and training and research.

Grade CGB graphite is a nuclear graphite which is basically an extruded petroleum coke bonded with coal tar pitch. No carbon blacks are used and the low-permeation graphite is finished through a series of impregnations and heat treatments with a final heat treatment of all components to 2800 degrees C. A listing of the results obtained is given in Table 1. The results at 51 degrees C are considered questionable. There was a slight contamination of the 90% Pt 10% Rh-Pt thermocouples at 910 degrees C but it was not sufficient to doubt the validity of the 910 degrees C results. However, the results obtained at 1015 degrees C should be disregarded because of severe thermocouple instabilities. In addition, the electrical resistance of the core heater at 603 degrees C indicated the thermocouples had a -10 to -15 degree error which is sufficient justification to disregard the 605 degrees C data.

The thermophysical properties of Armco iron such as thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, and Seebeck coefficient have been extensively investigated and reviewed up to 1000 degrees C. Few investigations of such properties have been made on high purity iron. If such a study is made using the same apparatus to determine the properties of two purity levels of iron, then several significant intercomparisons can be made which add meaning to data on a single material. The systemic errors for a single apparatus are the same, therefore comparison of a property of two similar materials is more significant. A comparison of the property changes with temperature and purity can show the effects of impurities on the mechanisms contributing to a property and allows prediction of the properties of iron as a function of purity. For these reasons a study was initiated on the high-purity iron for comparison to Armco iron.

The experimental details, mathematical models, and typical data for a rapid comparative method for thermal conductivity measurements are presented. The method consists of measuring the temperature change of a small silver sphere after it is brought in contact with a small disk-shaped specimen which was initially at ta higher temperature. This temperature change was calibrated in the range of 50 to 400 degrees C by making measurements on samples of know thermal conductivity. The accuracy of this technique was shown to be between than +-10% with a reproducibility of at least +-2.5%. Using known transport mechanisms for heat conduction in solids and the temperature dependency of the electrical conductivity, a means to judiciously extrapolate thermal conductivity data obtained between 50 and 400 degree C to high temperature is presented.

This paper summarized the work at ORNL in controlled-potential dc polarography since mid 1959 and states conclusion and viewpoints that have been reached in the course of this work. The following topics are discussed: (1) Potentiostatic Compensation for Polarographic Cell Resistance; (2) Time-Derivative DC Polarography; (3) Signal-to-Noise Ratio (S.N); (4) Resolution; and (5) DC Polarography in Non Aqueous Solvents and, Particularly, in Solvent Extracts.

The subject which I will discuss is the distorted - waves theory of direct reactions and its application to the study of nuclei. I shall mainly be concerned with a study of the reaction theory, its range of validity, and its ability to give quantitative information about nuclear structure.

The series of papers that we are about to discuss is primarily concerned, not as the first part of the session title indicates, with photochemistry of nucleic acids, but, as the second part indicates, with the biological implications of the photochemistry. We know that ultraviolet acts on nucleic acids in cells, and we know a good deal about the photochemistry of this interaction in vitro. The question we ask here is, which test tube reactions are of importance to the survival of the cell?

A replica electron microscope study of as-polished and cathodically etched surfaces of pyrolytic carbon coating on fuel particles has been made in an attempt to characterize coatings that showed as much as a 30% difference in bult density. High and low density coating could be characterized by their polished surface textures; however, these features were not indicative of the true structure as seen by direct electron transmission. Microvoids detected by the transmission study of cleavage flakes exist on too fine a scale to be observed either optically or by electron microscope examination of replicas of the polished surface. Other features such as the effect of cathodic and chemical etching, coating delamination, and duplex coating interfaces have also been examined.

In a sense, the whole process of differentiation is one of directed functional mosaicism. It is, however, the accidental or random juxtaposition in the same organism of cells having actually or effectively different genotypes that is generally thought of as true mosaicism. The study of this condition constitutes a perfect meeting place for the fields of genetics and developmental biology, providing, as it does, interrelated information on mutability, cell lineage (including the special problems of cell lineage of the germ line), and the effect of genotype on part of the organism versus the whole. The discovery in recent years that most or all of one X chromosome of the normal mammalian female become randomly inactivated early in development, an event that leads to functional mosaicism, provides us with a great potential tool for the study of gene action. The present paper will attempt to bring together results of diverse observations and experiments (many of them as yet unpublished) bearing on both genetic and functional mosaicism in the mouse.

From the questions which have been asked, I gather that I am expected to bring you the news of the latest exciting developments in desalination at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. However, the agenda for this meeting does not include reports of unfinished investigations; moreover, although there are some new ideas afoot at Oak Ridge, they are aimed toward the very large stations which are somewhat beyond the scope of the more current interests represented here. So instead of presenting new developments, I would like today to talk about where to look for them--to give you some purely analytical considerations that assess the incentives we have to seed certain improvements in this or that portion of the equipment in a dual-purpose station.

The purpose of this study was to investigate mathematically the concentration decrease due to particle deposition phenomena in highly concentrated monodispersed aerosols (mean particle size less than 1.0 mu) flowing through ventilation ducts. It was found that, from the standpoint of removal, the decrease in concentration due to deposition on duct walls was insignificant; but, when considering contamination on duct walls, the amount deposited, even though small when compared with the amount in the bulk stream, should not be overlooked.

Technical report on the activities of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Biology Division for the report period including a list of 346 publication and lectures and 205 short articles by members of the division on their research and activities.

Five recent investigations of the critical heat flux in water systems are described. These studies were conducted in the interval from early 1963 through the present. The five studies are (1) Pool studies: inherent uncertainty in the critical heat flux; (2) Pool studies: heat transfer inside of horizontal, open ended heated tubes immersed in a pool; (3) Pool studies: natural-convection burnout of closed vertical channels; (4) Forced-convection investigations; subcooled boiling and burnout with heated twisted tapes; and (5) Forced-convection investigations; swirl-flow forced-convection bulk-boiling loop.

The quasi reference electrode ( Q.R.E. ) is a bright platinum wire or other inert conductor immersed directly in the solution; it may have a very small area. It is used instead of a true reference electrode but must be used with potentiostatic or other circuits that prevent the drawing of cell current through the Q.R. E. When used in appropriate situations, the results obtained by use of a Q.R.E. are like those obtained with a true reference electrode except for the lack of thermodynamic meaning of the Q.R.E. potential ; hence , this simple electrode is called a quasi reference electrode.

Report containing illustrations of the high-flux isotope reactor.

Quarterly progress report discussing activities related to the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR) and related facilities.

From abstract: "This report summarizes the work performed on the Research and Development Program for the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor."

Report containing the ongoing research and development of the Oak Ridge National laboratory's Analytical Chemistry Division.

Report documenting ongoing research and developments at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Gas-Cooled Reactor Project. From summary: "A study was made of the effect of the energy of extraneous source neutrons on the amplitudes of higher modes in the flux distribution of a subcritical reactor."

From introduction: "Cytological examinations of the irradiated and some unirradiated populations in the radioactive sediments of White Oak Creek and the Clinch River were made."

Report that investigates the concept of using ammonium fluoride-oxidant systems to dissolve spent U-Zr-Sn reactor fuels in both batch and continuous operation.

Report describing the "development procedures for fabricating the proposed Core B fuel element of the Enrico Fermi Fast Breeder Reactor" (p. 1). This includes a description of various components, reactor assembly, and reported conclusions. Appendices begin on page 57.

Report containing the estimated costs of the chemical and metallurgical steps in plutonium recycling for large desalination reactors.