Monthly magazine discussing natural resources, parks, hunting and fishing, and other information related to the outdoors in Texas.

Monthly newsletter of the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1, discussing the field of underground water. Topics include profiles of water conservation research, annual pre-plant soil moisture survey data, annual Winter Water Level measurement data, and information about the latest water conservation tips.

Bi-monthly journal about library issues in Texas including collection development, programming and activities, managements, and other topics of interest.

This semiannual progress report and future reports will be published as two documents to permit a wider distribution of the unclassified material. The report numbers are assigned in sequence so that the two reports will fall together when filed by report number.

Applications of sheathed (metal) thermocouples may require in many instances, the insertion of the thermocouple thermal junction into an area that must be hermetically sealed to the outside. This same area usually contains highly reactive heat transfer medium such as an eutectic alloy of sodium and potassium of sodium alone. When fissionable materials are being irradiated, fission products that are driven off would also be present and must be contained under varying temperatures and pressures.

This is the third of a series of reports describing the phases of a study of the wear and galling of autoclavedZircaloy-2 by various bearing surface materials. The first report (1) showed that increasing contact area between the autoclaved Zircaloy-2 surfaces will not prevent scratching. It also showed that metals softer than Zircaloy-2 in general do not scratch it. The second report (2) described how eight metals and alloys were wear-tested on autoclaved Zircaloy-2 as prospects for fuel element support-bearing surface materials.

The purpose of this document is to describe the design and construction of a full-scale, electrically-heated model of a 19-rod PRTR fuel element for use in heat transfer experiments.

Facilities are to be designed for installation at Hanford for the reprocessing of irradiated, low enrichment fuels from non-production reactors, see Reference 1 and 2. The initial design of the processing facilities is to be based on processing the fuels discharged from the Dresden, Yankee, Piqua, Pathfinder and Shippingport (blanket elements only) reactors. Properties of the fuels and cladding make it impossible to completely process them in existing equipment, although the separation and decontamination can be performed in existing facilities once the fueks have been placed in solution form.

In recognition of the need for an integrated system plan for future development requirements for radiological instrumentation, this information report was written to provide the initial step concerning such a planning. The report is to be considered a basic information analysis of the present in-use plant radiological instrumentation, of the instrumentation now undergoing active development, and of the future development work contemplated.

The Hanford water treatment plants were operated for a number of years with alum as a coagulant and activated silica as a coagulant and a polyacrylamide as a filter conditioning agent. (other polyelectrolytes may be used.) Sufficient time has elapsed to make a comparison of the two methods of operation valid and useful. Such a comparison is the purpose of this paper.

The Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor is heavy water moderated with a heavy or light water reflector contained by a complex aluminum vessel called a Calandria. ( See Figure 1). Construction of this vessel started in August, 1958, at a large West Coast vendor's plant and was completed at Hanford in December, 1959. The fabrication problems associated with a high integrity welded aluminum vessel were generally unrealized prior to this period. This report covers the fabrication of the Calandria and lists recommendations for improving the design and reducing the cost.

This paper describes the measurement of control rod strength in the PCTR. The first section outlines the theory and method of such a measurement, and the second section presents the results of the measurement of the Experimental Gas Cooled Reactor (EGCR) control rod strength. The reactor parameter actually inferred is the difference in the infinitive multiplication factor for a control rod supercell with and without the control rod in place in the supercell. These measurements are, therefore, very closely related to the measurement of k∞ for an ordinary lattice cell.

This document authorizes the performance in accordance with the specifications noted, the PRTR Critical Tests described herein. The experiments described have the following objectives:

This development work was undertaken to investigate and standardize scintillation detector and transistorized circuitry techniques in instruments used for detecting and measuring alpha and beta particles, gamma photons, and both slow and fast neutrons. At the present time, the standard radiation detection instrumentation used at Hanford employ vacuum-tube circuitry with typical detectors being ion chambers, G-M tubes, HF3 tubes, etc. The vacuum tubes require excessive battery power, and some of the circuits are adversely affected by humidity and temperature conditions.

A technique for measuring extremely small temperature changes by means of a pyroelectric device is described. The sensing element is a short thin rod of polarized barium titanate ceramic with electrodes on the ends. The electric charges produced by changes in temperature are measured by a vibrating-reed electrometer. A number of calorimetric and noncalorimetric applications for the device are suggested.

Scope. This specification covers Zircaloy-4 sheet and strip material for reactor use where high integrity and satisfactory corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures are required.

Scope. This specification covers Zircalogy-2 sheet and strip material for reactor use where high integrity and satisfactory corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures are quired.

Scope. This specification covers Zircaloy-2 tubing, both seamless and welded, for reactor fuel rod sheathing where high integrity, and satisfactory corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures ae required.

Scope. This specification covers Zircaloy-4 wire material for reactor use where high integrity and satisfactory corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures are required.

Scope. This specification covers Zircaloy-2 wire material for reactor use where high integrity and satisfactory corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures are required.

Scope. This specification covers ingots of zirconium alloy designated as Zircaloy-4, and intended for the production of reactor components.

Scope. This specification covers ingots of zirconium alloy designated as Zircaloy-2, and intended for the production of reactor components.

The concept of thermonuclear explosives as a potentially cheap and almost inexhaustible energy source for mankind's non military needs has for several years been under active consideration at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. Many of the proposed peaceful applications involve underground nuclear explosions, and several experiments at the AEC Nevada Test Site have provided valuable insight into the phenomenology of such explosions. Among the possible uses currently under consideration are excavation, heat production, isotope production, mining, recovery of oil from shales and tar sands, improvements of ground water supplies, and the construction of earth fill dams. In addition a program of experimental research in the laboratory and in the field is under way. Sometime in 1961 Project Gnome if approved will be conducted in New Mexico. The purpose of Gnome, a contained nuclear explosion in a salt deposit, is to study the feasibility of heat recovery and isotope production, neutron scattering experiments will also be included. Other proposed nuclear projects will involve the creation of a small harbor near Cape Thompson, Alaska as the result of an experiment designed to investigate the cratering effects of nuclear explosives; a proposal to investigate the recovery of oil from Canadian tar sands using thermonuclear …

The wide use of liquid oxygen as an oxidant in rocket engines has resulted in an increased interest in low-temperature heat transfer. Storage tanks for this type of application, being uninsulated, contain a boiling-liquid low-temperature sink, which is susceptible to environmental heat inputs and subsequent liquid loss by vaporization. Such losses are difficult to predict due to the complex combination of ambient conditions which exist, and the lack of knowledge concerning their combined effects. Heat transfer in this field is difficult to analyze primarily because of its transient nature. This is a result of such factors as: (1) the growth of an insulating frost layer on the outer surface of the container, with its accompanying energy transfer to the system; (2) the temperature dependent convective air pattern that surrounds the container, (3) the transfer of radiant energy to the system, and (4) the mechanical failure of the frost itself with subsequent sloughing from the container wall. A lack of knowledge regarding the coefficient of diffusion of water vapor through air and the thermal conductivity of frost in this depressed temperature range further complicates the predictions of heat transfer.