This is a progress report of the production reactors on the Hanford Reservation for the month of March 1953. This report takes each division (e.g., manufacturing, medical, accounting, occupational safety, security, reactor operations, etc.) of the site and summarizes its accomplishments and employee relations for that month.

This document presents a summary of work and progress at the Hanford Engineer Works for June 1953. The report is divided into sections by department. A plant wide general summary is included at the beginning of the report, after which the departmental summaries begin. The Manufacturing Department reports plant statistics, and summaries for the Metal Preparation, Reactor and Separation sections. The Engineering Department`s section summaries work the Technical, Design, and Project Sections. Costs for the various departments are presented in the Financial Department`s summary. The Medical, Radiological Sciences, Utilities and General Services, Employee and Public Relations, and Community Real Estate and Services departments have sections presenting their monthly statistics, work, progress, and summaries.

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, physics and instrumentation, reactor technology, chemistry, separation processes, biology, financial activities, employee relations, laboratories auxiliaries, radiation protection, operation research, inventions, visits, and personnel status are discussed. This report is for December 1956.

From abstract: "Steady temperatures and thermal stresses are determined for long hexagonal tubes having round holes for the case of uniform internal heat generation and a fluid-cooled inside surface. Thermal stresses are also determined for thick plates pierced by holes on an equilateral triangular pattern and for hexagonal tubes having a hexagonal hole with rounded inside corners. Stresses in the end regions of tubes are also investigated."

Introduction: The object of this test work was to determine the practicability of a two-stage leach using ion-exchange as the method of uranium concentration.

It is desirable to place laboratory instruments in static storage so that they may be put into operation with only normal servicing. Such instruments may be subject to many forms of deterioration. There may be deterioration of metal parts due to chemical and electrolytic corrosion and the effects of moisture, excessive dryness, and microorganisms, i.e., mildew on organic parts. To preserve such instruments without disassembly or troublesome surface coatings, requires methods that will remove the major cause of deterioration - that is, excessive humidity, by reducing and maintaining the relative humidity of the air surrounding the item at 30 per cent or less. It is also necessary to eliminate or separate hygroscopic materials from the item since they will cause corrosion, by surface adsorption and condensation, even though a dry atmosphere is maintained. The methods and materials used must not only be efficient and economical but also require a minimun of maintenance, Protection against physical damage and temperature extremes is dependent upon the storage site and is not considered in this report.

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In this paper experiments a r e reported on annihilation and scattering of antiprotons in H{sub 2}O , D{sub 2}O, and O{sub 2}. From the data measured i t i s possible to obtain an antiproton-proton and a n antiproton-deuteron c r o s s section a t 457 Mev (lab). Further analysis gives the p-p and p-n c r o s s sections a s 104 mb for the H-p reaction c r o s s section and 113 mb for the p-n reaction c r o s s section. The respective annihilation cross sections a r e 89 and 74 mb. The Glauber correction necessary in order to pass from the p-d to the p-n c r o s s section by subtraction of the p-p c r o s s section i s unfortunately large and somewhat uncertain. The data a r e compared with the p-p and p-n c r o s s sections and with other results on p - p collisions.

A core parameter study of the operating costs was performed for a 300- Mwe sodium graphite reactor, a scale-up of the Hallam Power Reactor. The results of the study indicate that the core design is nsar optimum and that core modifications would reduce the power costs by less than 5%. The lattice spacing, fuel rod diameter, and sodium flow can be varied within a rather broad range without significant changes in power generation costs. The effect of the fuel cladning thickness is more significant; fuel cycle costs can be reduced if stainless steel canning is replaced with zirconium canning. Use of UC in place of uraniummolybdenum fuel would also permit cost reductions. (D.L.C.)

The first attempt to discover spontaneous fission in uranium was made by Libby, who, however, failed to detect it on account of the smallness of effect. In 1940, Petrzhak and Flerov, using more sensitive methods, discovered spontaneous fission in uranium and gave some rough estimates of the spontaneous fission decay constant of this substance. Subsequently, extensive experimental work on the subject has been performed by several investigators and will be quoted in the various sections. Bohr and Wheeler have given a theory of the effect based on the usual ideas of penetration of potential barriers. On this project spontaneous fission has been studied for the past several years in an effort to obtain a complete picture of the phenomenon. For this purpose the spontaneous fission decay constants {lambda} have been measured for separated isotopes of the heavy elements wherever possible. Moreover, the number {nu} of neutrons emitted per fission has been measured wherever feasible, and other characteristics of the spontaneous fission process have been studied. This report summarizes the spontaneous fission work done at Los Alamos up to January 1, 1945. A chronological record of the work is contained in the Los Alamos monthly reports.

A compilation of available data on the spectra of thorium is presented, including energy levels and classified lines with Zeeman effects and isotope shifts, as well as certain data on unclassified lines. The present status of knowledge of these spectra is discussed. (auth)

A series of critical experiments with blocks of 2% U/sup 235/--enriched UF/sub 4/-C/sub 25/sub 5/H/sub 52/ was initiated at the ORN L Critical Experiments Facility. Thus far assemblies with H:U/sup 235/ atomic ratios of 195 and 294 were built in parallelepipedal and simulated cylindrical geometries, both reflected and unreflected. From the results the minimum critical masses for reflected spheres were determined to be 16.3 and 8.5 kg of U/sup 235/ for fuel mixtures with H:U atomic ratios of 195 and 294, respectively. The minimum critical masses for unreflected spheres of these two fuel mixtures are 24.3 and 12.7 kg of U/sup 235/ respsctively. (auth)

The basic theory of operation of the triggered spark gap is established, and qualitative and quantitative engineering design data are given. From the basic twoelectrode gap, a three-electrode or triggered gap model is established with its static and dynamic triggering characteristics shown. Several geometry conditions such as gap spacings trigger electrode hole sizes and insulator effects are discussed, showing their influence upon the triggering mechanism. A suggested trigger mechanism is given based on that proposed by Sletten and Lewis for the trigatron and modified to fit the present analysis. (auth)

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Tests indicate that of the various alloys tssted for corrosion resistance when exposed 10 an HF-HP atmosphere at 1070 F, the Cr-Ni alloys, as a group, give the best corrosion resistance where strength at high temperature is desired. Other alloys have given excellent results but the lack of strength at the higher temperatures or cost, is against their use in production equipment. (auth)

A method that can be used to produce milliliter amounts of tritiated water from tritium gas is described. Safety precautions are emphasized as part of the method, which involves oxidation of tritium gas over hot copper(II) oxide in a sealed glass system. (auth)

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A controlled-temperature irradiation capsule was operated containing small fueled specimens at 160O to 1650 F. The design involved calculating the specimen heat-generation rate and designing an insulating gas gap around the specimens to achieve the desired temperature. Electric heaters were inserted to help control temperature. The thickness and composition of the gas gap were modified prior to operation on the basis of information on probable neutron flux obtained from a nuclear mock-ups and on the basis of information on the thermal resistance of various gas annuli obtained from a thermal mock-up. The desired irradiation temperature of 1625 F was achieved with a variation of sintering time 25 F. (auth)

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From abstract: General expressions relating product stream compositions to the operating conditions of countercurrent stagewise extraction columns are derived by an inductive method, and the conversion of the general equations to ones involving the particular case of constant extraction factor is demonstrated. For comparison, the derivation of simple column equations by the use of finite difference equations is included.

A study was made to determine the magnitude of the velocities existing in the various slurry pumps currently in use and to determine possible methods of reducing the velocities in order to obtain longer life. The maximum velocities of the lOOA, 200A, and 300A pumps are between 39 and 53.6 fps with the exception of the lOOA absolute discharge velocity which is 80.6 fps. For large slurry pumps, it is recommended that lower speeds be used in order to reduce the impeller relative velocities. (auth)

This bibliography of the unclassified literature on radioactive waste treatment and disposal has been compiled from references published in the Nuclear Science Abstracts Volume 11, No. 11 (June 15, 1957), through Volume 12, No. 12 (June 30, 1958). The bibliography brings up to date a previous bibliography published as CF 57-8-138. (auth)

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