Introduction: Reconnaissance for uranium in central and southwestern Arkansas was carried out as a joint project of the U.S. Atomic energy Commission and the U.S. Geological Survey during March and May 1954. The project was planned as an investigation of several areas of known abnormal radioactivity, and as a search for others, by airborne and ground radiometric reconnaissance.

Data which determine points on the Hugoniot curves of fourteen solids are given in the technical report.

The presence of large amounts of plutonium in high exposure uranium will give rise to a large, positive, graphite reactivity, temperature coefficient. This will create control problems in normal operation and also in the event of loss of cooling. Some general suggestions are given for the solution of these problems. The magnitude of the coefficient is probably known within ± 25% at present and a program is planned to reduce this uncertainty. The uncertainty is of minor importance in the operating control problem but of considerable significance in the disaster control problem.

From Summary: "This paper presents the results of an investigation of the dynamic stability and controllability of a model which approximately represents the Lockheed XFV-1 airplane to a 1/8 scale. The investigation consisted of hovering flights in still air at a considerable height above the ground, hovering flights very close to the ground, vertical take-offs and landings, flights through the transition range from hovering to normal forward flight, and sideways translational flights."

Improved graphites for use in fuel elements were developed from artificial graphites and phenolic resins. These materials are particularly well suited for fuelelement preparation. The resins do not soften during baking, so bodies hold their shape and show good dimensional uniformity. The physical properties of graphite were obtained without heating at "graphitizing" temperatures, which would be detrimental to UO/sub 2/ or other inclusions of nuclear fuel. High densities and bending strengths, viz., 1.80 g/cm/sup 3/ and 15,000 psi, were obtained directly without the usual impregnation of the baked product with pitch and rebaking. At 2770 deg F, one of the experimental bodies had a tensile strength of 8250 psi as compared to 4700 psi for Type ECA, a commercial graphite of irterest for fuel ele ments. UO/sub 2/-bearing bodies were prepared by using the improved graphites as matrices. The UO/sub 2/ was added during primary fabrication of the bodies by several different methods which produced a wide range of particle sizes. Consideration of the qualitative effects of UO/sub 2/ particle size and of some of the experimental results indicates that the use of UO/sub 2/ nodules between 100 and 800 microns in diameter may have three important advantages: (1) less …

From data obtained from two loops, the use of beryllium in Inconel systems containing molten sodium appears feasible if the temperature is held below 1200 deg F. (J.E.D.)

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Report presenting an experimental investigation to determine the low-speed yawing stability derivatives of a model of the Douglas A4D-1 airplane. The model was tested in clean and landing configurations with horizontal and vertical tails on and off. Results are provided without analysis.

Memorandum presenting an investigation of the forced-convection heat-transfer and pressure-drop characteristics of a staggered closely spaced 0.020-inch wire metal-to-air heat exchanger. Eight wire banks were electrically heated, and the range of variables included bulk Reynolds numbers based on wire diameter and maximum velocity, from 82 to 1900, average wire temperatures up to 1109 degrees R, and heat flux densities up to 84,000 Btu per hour per square foot.

Current operation of the Redox plant dissolvers results in evolution of ammonia during the slug jacket removal step. Staggering the schedules of the dissolving cycles of the three dissolvers is being practiced at present to prevent the formation of ammonium nitrate crystals in the stack gases, but this procedure limits the dissolver capacity. Steps are being taken to provide ammonia scrubbers for the dissolvers to eliminate this need for close scheduling of dissolving operations. It has been proposed (HW-30838) that mercury-catalyzed nitric acid dissolving of the jackets be adapted to the Redox plant. Such a process would eliminate ammonia from the off-gases and would offer several other advantages as well. A flowsheet was proposed based on work in the Process Chemistry laboratory and developed by runs in the 321 Building 1/20-scale dissolver. However, the off-gases resulting from this flowsheet were found to contain hydrogen, and further laboratory work was thus undertaken to provide a solution to this problem. It is the purpose of this paper to summarize the recent development work on the mercury-catalyzed nitric acid slug de- jacketing and dissolving procedure, and to show how these findings may be applied to the Redox operation by the use of alternate …

Letter opinion 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, John Ben Shepperd, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a note payable in monthly installments in such amounts are as realized from an oil-payment interest is a written evidence of indebtedness which bears a maturity date less than one year from date of issue to the extent of payments within the year.

Letter opinion 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, John Ben Shepperd, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Payment of per diem, travel expenses and subsistence as reimbursement to members of the State Advisory Council of the Texas Employment Commission.

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Paths of trip points of Mach reflections produced by 0.5-oz pentolite detonations have been observed for various burst heights. The slopes, Y, at points on the curved path are found to vary from values of Y predicted from plane shock wave data. This discrepancy is attributed to the shock strength conditions at the early inception of the Mach reflection, which later influence the triple point equilibrium, and in lesser degree to radius of curvature effects.

Abstract: Reconnaissance of Red Rock Valley was begun on December 10, 1953, and completed on February 11, 1954. The mines in the region were investigated and all exposures of Salt Wash were walked. Paleostream directions and alterations of the sandstones were observed and recorded on a base map. No important new mineralization was discovered-and the area is considered to be of no commercial significance if judged by the outcrops alone. However, a vast amount of Salt Wash lies at slight depth directly to the east of the investigated area.

The Redox ruthenium contamination problem has two distinct phases; the environs contamination as a result of stack emissions, and the in-canyon contamination which controls time and cost factors for plant maintenance. On stack emissions, the probability of serious environs contamination exists so long as the batch-type, permanganate headend ruthenium volatilization process is used. Knowledge of the characteristics of volatilized ruthenium is not adequate today to give complete assurance that the off-gas treatment facilities will satisfactorily remove the particulate and gaseous forms of ruthenium on every headend batch. Until the required knowledge of ruthenium reaction rates is developed, the filtering and scrubbing efficiencies are determined, and the requirements to guarantee 100 percent reliability of equipment operation are solved, the prediction of frequency and amounts of ruthenium emission must be based on the experience factor gained in actual plant operation.

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From Introduction: "In reference 1, in which the performance of conical supersonic scoop inlets on circular fuselages is reported, the drag of the bottom-inlet configuration was considerably higher than for the top inlet."

"The performance of liquid fluorine and liquid ammonia as a propellant combination was evaluated in 1000-pound-thrust rocket engines operated at a chamber pressure of 600 pounds per square inch absolute. Values of specific impulse, characteristic velocity, thrust coefficient, and heat rejection were obtained as functions of propellant mixture ratio for each of four injectors: a triplet, a showerhead, and two like-on-like types" (p. 1).

Memorandum presenting a study of the ignition of ammonia and mixed oxides of nitrogen at 160 degrees Fahrenheit made with and without fuel additives utilizing small-scale rocket engines of approximately 200 pounds thrust. All experiments were conducted at sea-level pressures except two at a range of pressure altitudes. Results regarding the use of lithium as a catalyst, calcium as a catalyst, and no apparent catalyst are provided.

Report presenting a study of four short annular diffusers with different diffuser passage area variations and with various combinations of straightening vanes, vortex generators, splitters, and boundary layer suction for flow control. Results regarding turbine discharge whirl, diffuser passage modification, and boundary layer control are provided.

Report presenting an experimental investigation to determine the effect of several wedge-type boundary-layer diverters on drag and inlet pressure recovery in the 8- by 6-foot supersonic wind tunnel at Mach numbers of 1.5, 1.8, and 2.0. The model consisted of two rectangular ramp-type inlets mounted on the NACA RM-10 body of revolution. Results regarding variation of inlet pressure recovery and configuration drag with inlet mass-flow ratio, changes in the shock pattern off the inlet ramp, pressure-recovery-mass-flow characteristics, and drag coefficients are provided.

A common and useful assumption is that the front-to-rear power distribution is a shortened cosine curve. This fact led to the calculation of slug factors'' for the longer charges to be used at K-Pile. It is hoped that the publication of these numbers will save time and prevent duplication of effort by those concerned in any way with slug power, surface temperatures, reactivity effects, etc. For the sake of completeness, slug factors for the older piles are included. Another useful ideal is that tube power distributions can be approximated by the assumption of a cylindrical pile and a cosine distribution of power outside of a central flattened region. This led to another double set of numbers since the values for the 2004 tube piles were again included for completeness. 2 figs., 6 tabs.