This is a progress report of the production reactors on the Hanford Reservation for the month of March 1951. 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.

It is generally believed that charged particles cannot be accelerated from ground potential to ground potential unless they pass through a system which has associated iwth it a time varying magnetic field. D.C. electric fields must satisfy the equation {contour_integral} Eds = 0, while the time varying fields used in radio-frequency accelerators and betatrons are freed from this restriction of scalar potential theory. In 1932, AJ Dempster produced protons with an energy of 45 Kev, by passing them from an electrode at +22.5 kv dc to ground. The protons were first accelerated to ground potential, with an energy gain of 22.5 kev. A small fraction of the protons then picked up an electron from a residual gas molecule, and ''coasted'' to a second electrode at +22.5 kv. Then a small fraction of these neutral hydrogen atoms lost their electrons, and were accelerated to ground with a second gain in energy equal to 22.5 kev. An accelerator of this type is obviously impractical for several reasons. The probability of neutralizing a proton varies inversely with a high power of the particle velocity, so the scheme would not work at energies of interest to nuclear physicists. Even at the low energies where …

Report presenting the effect of Mach number on the characteristics of the downwash and wake behind an unswept, tapered wing of aspect ratio 2.67 with full-span, 25-percent-chord, leading- and trailing-edge flaps has been determined from wind-tunnel tests. Results regarding downwash characteristics and wake characteristics are provided.

Report discussing a pressure-distribution investigation of a wing of a supersonic aircraft in the presence of a fuselage at a specified Mach number and aerodynamic chord. The wing had a quarter chord swept back 40 degrees, an aspect ratio of 4, a taper ratio of 0.5, and 10-percent-thick circular-arc sections perpendicular to the quarter-chord line. The results were compared to a similar investigation at a different Mach number.

Memorandum presenting a review of the current and anticipated lubricant problems as related to aircraft turbojet engines, which has indicated that the current and anticipated bearing operating temperature ranges to be met are specified. The most promising approaches, including types of lubricants and temperatures, are provided.

Thorium forms a tetragonal lower hydride of composition ThH{sub 2}. The hydrides ThH{sub 2}, ThD{sub 2} and ZrD{sub 2} have been studied by neutron diffraction in order that hydrogen positions could be determined. The hydrides are isomorphous, and have a deformed fluorite structure. Metal-hydrogen distances in thorium hydride are unusually large, as in UH{sub 3}. Thorium and zirconium scattering amplitudes and a revised scattering amplitude for deuterium are reported.

Report documenting the suitability of California for plant locations to produce synthetic liquid fuels, based on raw materials such as oil-impregnated strippable deposits, coal, and natural gas.