ON NUCLEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY AT CANEL. The critical experiment facility at CANEL is described. Information of the mature of experimental assemblies and operations is included. Safety features of the building, equipment, and operations are pointed out. Possible accidents and the resulting hazards to surrounding areas are analyzed. The make-up of the surrounding area is described. (M.C.G.)

The operational characteristics of the Cosmotron were reviewed in brief. Since a rather complete account of this machine is now available in the September 1953 issue of Rev. Sci. Inst., this summary will include only the more recent utilization of the machine as a research instrument.

Report on the atomic bomb injuries in Hiroshima City.

Introduction: "The uranium-5 w/o chromium alloy has been intensively investigated for use in a power reactor in the as-cast condition. However, when cast sample fuel elements were subjected to irradiation, their stability was found to be unsatisfactory. In order to improve the behavior of the alloy, a program of grain refinement by heat treatment was begun. The effect of chill casting on the heat-treated grain size was also investigated."

Memorandum presenting a study of the performance of swirl-can combustor elements for an experimental short-length turbojet combustor utilizing hydrogen fuel at high-altitude operating conditions. Fuel was injected into each element through a tangential, sonic orifice that created a swirling fuel-air mixture within each element. Results regarding combustor blowout, combustion efficiency, outlet temperature distribution, and preliminary performance of multielement combustor are provided.

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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.

From abstract: "The rate of hydrolysis of TBP and the effect of the hydrolysis products in the Purex Process have been studied. Hydrolytic conditions may be encountered in the process which would lead to formation of dibutyl phosphoric acid, causing significant losses of tetravalent plutonium in stripping. This situation may be easily alleviated by reducing and stripping the plutonium in the trivalent state."

This document summarizes the amounts of radioactive contamination discharged to the ground from separation facilities through June 1956. Detailed data for individual disposal sites is presented on a month to month basis for the period July 1955 through June 1956. The major disposal sites in separation facilities, total volume of waste discharged at each location, and the gross amounts of plutonium and fission products discharged to the ground since startup are listed. This same data are presented on a month to month basis and also include information on the source of the waste stream and the settling facility used. Isotopic data are included for all disposal sites from which the waste was analyzed for specific contaminants. Estimates of contamination and volumes discharged to the swamps are also included.

In view of contamination difficulties within the Redox operation, number of items are being considered to improve this situation. It is the objective of this document to list and describe seven times which it is felt would contribute most toward improvement. It is also an objective to present for RDS-D-12 Group consideration the recommendations of representatives from Manufacturing, Technical, and Design in these matters with the expectation that a project proposal written in general terms for overall contamination improvement would be prepared.

From introduction: "This report gives the results of a 1000-hour corrosion test of SAE 1010, low carbon steel, in synthetic Redox waste solutions...The present test was designed to obtain corrosion rates for waste solution temperatures of 180 F, 200 F, and 220 F in solutions neutralized to pH values of 11, 12, and 13.

This report discusses a proposed method for treating the effect of increasing critical mass of plutonium solutions, which occurs when hydrogen density is reduced by dilution with heavier nuclei.

The following report describes the process of epoxy resin casting of high-voltage transformers, bushings, and potheads.

The following report provides complete data and test procedure from hot water corrosion tests of type 502 stainless steel.

Purpose: "The Hanford Works Analytical Manual for Process Water is designed to specify the analytical methods to be applied for control purposes in the Reactor Section, Process Sub-Section laboratories. The procedures are in general form and serve as references rather than outlined laboratory instructions. The manual us designed to replace the "Hanford Works Manual," HW-12862."

This report examines the failure of two 18-8 grade stainless steel gate valves used in sulfamic acid and determines the cause of the failures through a series of tests.

The purpose of this course is two-fold. It should serve as a review for the metallurgist of the classical metallurgical concepts applied to such metals as uranium, thorium, plutonium, and zirconium. These metals are relatively unfamiliar to the metallurgist, but the concepts are still the same ones applied to familiar metals. The second purpose is to acquaint the non-metallurgist with the reasons for selection, advantages, and disadvantages of the various fuels and structural materials used in a reactor. Thus, there are two purposes: the first is conceptual, and the second is explanatory. A blending of the two must inevitably result in an over-simplification of the metallurgical concepts and an assumption of certain background material which, actually, may not be available to the non-metallurgist. The present lecture is an introduction to the material to be covered. This lecture will have two purposes. The material to be presented in the remaining lectures will be outlined briefly, and the various concepts to be covered in this course will be discussed.

Power rate of rise measuring instrumentation is being procured for all of the Hanford piles, and a prototype installation is now in service at D reactor. This instrumentation is expected to provide valuable assistance to the pile operator during the start-up rise to operating power; in order to best utilize the instrument, procedures and limits must be determined on the basis of the relationship between the flux rate of change and the instrument response. As with any measuring instrument, there is an inherent delay in the power rate meter circuitry; in addition there are greater delays associated with the beat capacity of the metal and water and the transit time of the cooling water. Furthermore, reactivity changes from rod withdrawal and metal coefficient draping are not instantaneous, and the flux is not a simple function of the reactivity changes. Because of the time lags involved the rate meter response cannot be identical to the actual flux rate of change; however, an exact solution for this response in terms of all of the variables would be inordinately complex. The purpose of this study is to show approximately the changes in power level or rate which might occur in practice relative to …

There were twenty slug jacket failures during the month of January 1952. Of these, fourteen were end cap failures, five were split slugs and one has not been removed. A total of 311.4 hours of outage time was required for removal of these ruptured slugs from the reactors. The detection, removal and radiation aspects, along with the slug data, are shown on the attached sheets.

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Six 1.6% enriched Zircaloy-2 jacketed seven-rod cluster elements with modified end supports and one Zircaloy-2 jacketed Pu-A1 seven-rod cluster element will be irradiated in KER Loop 1 to an exposure of about 4500 MWD/T.

In a preceding lecture all the components necessary to secure a controlled nuclear chain reaction were discussed. The business at Hanford is to use these components in the most efficient manner possible to manufacture the desired products of irradiation - the primary product being Pu. In this lecture of the variables of such operation are considered.

With higher power levels and probably higher river temperatures, the forthcoming warm water season is expected to impose bulk outlet temperature limits, with consequent production losses, on all Hanford reactors to an even greater extent than last year. The problem has received the attention of a number of management and engineering personnel, but the basis for this study was a letter originating in the Production Operation suggesting two alternate schemes for increasing the flow of process water to the rear face piping, thereby reducing bulk temperatures for a given power level. The purpose of the suggestions was to provide an interim solution to the problem pending I & E loadings. Loading with I & E slugs will increase reactor flows to some degree, depending on the actual slug dimensions used, and will probably result in encountering other limits than the B.O.T. limit. The applicable period for study was therefore taken to be this summer only, since I & E loadings are expected to begin in June or July at 105-D and during the fall at 105-F. The Managers, D and F Reactor Operations, requested Plant and Industrial Engineering Operation to investigate and compare the feasibility and applicability of the suggested …

This report presents the cold shakedown run for the UO{sub 3} plan. One complete batch conversion will be made in each of the eighteen Calcining Pots using unirradiated uranium food solution. The objectives of this series of conversions are as follows. A mechanical test of the conversion units; a shakedown of the unloading, pulverizing and material handling equipment; a functional test of the Nitro Acid Absorber system operating at approximately 5 to 20% of its design capacity; the determination of the optimum temperature and time cycle conditions for 60% UNH feed solution. These conditions may be based upon calcination of the initial charge of 60% UNH solution to form UO{sub 3}, in one pot; a confirmation of the calibration of instruments; and to provide operating experience and process know-how.