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.

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

Report issued by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussing work and progress made by the Health and Physics Division during 1963. Instrumentation, personnel monitoring, and laboratory monitoring is presented. This report includes maps, tables, illustrations, and photographs.

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 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.

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.

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."

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.

Report presenting the calculation of the costs incurred in shipping irradiated uranium-containing fuel elements. A computer code that designs a cask and calculates the shipping costs is presented. By use of the code, shipping costs were calculated for typical reactor fuels.

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.

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 regarding the development of fuel elements for the Advanced Test Reactor. The designs for the side plates and joints are documented, as well as the assembly process of the fuel element.

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.

Report containing ongoing research and development taking place at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Electronuclear Division.

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 issued by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussing the evaporation of alloys in high vacuums. As stated in the introduction, "the investigation encompasses measurements of the evaporation rates, identification of the evaporating elements, and correlation of these measurements to the alloy composition for specimens in both the polished and oxidized conditions" (p. 2). This report includes tables, illustrations, and photographs.

Report tests "conducted on nominal 8.0-in.-OD by 0.25-in.-wall and 4.0-in.-OD by 0.12-in.-wall specimens made from commercial pipe and tubing" (p. 1).

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

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

Report describing the performance characteristics of gas-cooled fast reactors, which compare well with those of sodium-cooled fast reactors. With oxide fuel and helium, CO2, and SO2 coolant at pressures of 1000 to 1500 psia, the reactors have slightly higher breeding ratios than comparable sodium-cooled reactors.

Report documenting the design and testing progress of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Gas-Cooled Reactor Program.

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.

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.

Report containing illustrations of the high-flux isotope reactor.