Summary of the trumpeter swan, including geographic distribution, habitats for breeding and wintering, life cycle, nesting, food, limiting factors, longevity, population dynamics, and human management.

From Summary: "The major objective of the run was the investigation of fuel stability. The reactor operated for long periods at the design power of 5 Mw with none of the usual indications of instability while the system pressure was kept at 1250 psig. Run 21 ended on January 22, so that the reason for an abrupt change in the mixing rate of fuel between the core and blanket could be investigated and a reactor steam-system valve could be repaired."

Abstract. An inexpensive method for detection of dust-loaded high efficiency filters is described. Air flow is continuously indicated by elementary pitot tubes and plastic rotameters. Accuracy obtained is within +- 15%. Information as to construction, installation, and use is presented.

This is the summary report on the ARF Project C 127, entitled "Preliminary Studies Related to Radioactive Fallout", covering the period from April 1, 1959, to April 29, 1960.

Pressurized water nuclear reactors may be designed based upon either of two concepts: (1) pressure vessel, wherein the entire core is placed in a large, high strength fuel channels within a low pressure container. The Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor is a pressure tube type reactor. Selection of this basic type of pressurized water reactor depended to an appreciable extent upon the availability of suitable pressure tubing.

From introduction: This report has been prepared to present the details of the heavy water cooled power reactors, including cost estimates, plant design studies, and other work directly related to the current status of D2O reactors.

This bibliography contains 94 references on metal hydrides, with particular emphasis placed on the hydrides of titanium, yttrium, and zirconium. The bibliography covers the period 1955 through 1959. The references are arranged alphabetically by title. Sources used in compiling this bibliography are: Applied Science and Technology Index, Abstracts of Classified Reports, ASM Review of Metal Literature, Bibliographies of Interest to the Atomic Energy Program, Classified and Unclassified Parts, Industrial Arts Index, Internal Card Catalog, Monthly List of Bibliographies in the Atomic Energy Program, U.S.A.E.C. Technical Information Service Extension, Nuclear Science Abstracts.

Calcination of liquid radioactive wastes, the process of converting metal nitrates and sulfates to oxides by heat, is under development at Hanford as a means of reducing these liquids to a dry powder or solid which can be stored safely. Radiant-heat spray calcination, one of the methods under study, was first investigated at the Oak Ridge K-25 Plant (1) as a possible method of calcining uranyl nitrate to uranium trioxide. The process has also been under extensive development at the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (2) and is designated by them as the Atomized Suspension Technique.

Facilities shall be provided in the 221-U Building for storing the metal solution product of the dissolution step in existing tankage from U, T, and B Plants until a reprocessing campaign is scheduled through Redox. This section shall provide a sampling tank for fuel accountability sampling and a pump tank from which the solution will be pumped via a cross-country pipeline to Redox for further processing.

Summary: Prototype testing of the safety and control rod drives indicated that both units functioned properly. No major problems were encountered during testing. Seal leakage data collected indicated that the seal units were performing satisfactorily. Scram times during both cold and hot testing were excellent and actually better than expected.

A correlation between the optical densities if the Pb-Sn alloy system and UO2 with respect to Co^60 gamma radiation has been determined. This enables one to fabricate density standards of whatever geometry may be desired for one in the gamma absorptiometer by simply casting a Pb-Sn alloy of the proper composition to correspond to the density required.

The primary purpose of a cleanup system in a recirculating water loop is to maintain the best possible water quality conditions. This is normally accomplished by continuously purifying all or a portion of the coolant. A secondary objective of the cleanup system is to help maintain the system pH at a constant value. A system that will satisfactorily accomplish both of these objectives is at times difficult to obtain. Generally the pH control characteristics are sacrificed in favor of the more important cleanup requirements. A somewhat new approach to the problem pf cleanup system design appears to offer a solution to this problem for high pH systems.

When light propagates with the wave normal in the direction of an optic axis of a biaxial crystal, the usual ray theory breaks down. This phenomenon can be analyzed by means of an asymptotic solution of Maxwell's equations. The intensity is governed by a partial differential equation within the phase surfaces, instead of ordinary differential equations along rays. This example slows that light does not always propagate along rays. A similar phenomenon occurs in hydromagnetics.

Abstract. A fast-slow coincidence scintillation spectrometer for gamma-gamma cascade measurements following thermal neutron absorption in nuclei is now in operation at the Livermore 1-megawatt pool-type reactor. Design features of the spectrometer and experimental techniques in its use are discussed with particular emphasis on the application of the recently introduced sum-coincidence method for analysis of capture-gamma double cascades. A new technique for the determination of added neutron binding energy is presented and various types of coincidence data from appropriate experiments are illustrated.

In the past several years the use of neutron monitors for Pu concentration monitoring has been expanded in the Chemical Processing Department. Most of these monitors have been quite successful, and considerable effort is being made to improve the operation of both existing and future monitoring systems. One of the major improvements has been the development and use of a transistorized pre-amplifier or impedance matching circuits. This unit solves several problems associated with the use of boron trifluoride (BF3) neutron detectors in process monitoring; e.g., vacuum tube pre-amp failure because heat is not being conducted away.

Ultrasonic cleaning uses high-frequency sound waves to induce cavitation within a cleaning, medium. During cavitation, millions of small bubbles form and collapse, resulting in agitation proportional to the energy put into the solution. The making and breaking of these bubbles produce the scrubbing action associated with ultrasonic cleaning.

The majority of two-phase flow problems involving equations of state are solved by use of point-wise utilization steam table values. In this manner, problems involving the use of the various flow equations of continuity, momentum and energy are generally forced into iterative solutions. Considerable effort towards the development of an analytical expression for the state equation seems indicated so as to simplify the analysis of two-phase problems, particularly the transient cases. The question of instability of state and mixture condition is particularly apparent in the analysis of systems undergoing phase transformation as demonstrated by the significant difference between simple theory and experimental critical flow determinations. The assumption of homogeneous, equilibrium mixtures is indicated as a first attack upon the problem.

Abstract: "The accuracies which can be achieved in analog recording systems are for the most part tape limited. While reasonable variations in tape speed do not directly affect the accuracy, such variations result in improper tape tensioning, which in turn results in poor head-to-tape contact. The quality of the tape transport mechanism should be such that the error introduced by improper head- to tape contact is less than tape errors. Some additional equipment is necessary in setting up a tape recorder for a given experiment. The amplitude of the input pulse spectura to the recorder should be adjusted for optimum value and, if possible, the counting rate should be adjusted to obtain good tape utilization. An oscilloscope is probably adequate to satisfy both conditions."

In October 1959, a combination testing station developed at HAPO was reported to the Sheath committee. This testing station consisted of electronic instrumentation and mechanical scanning equipment to check coextruded fuel elements (rod and tube) for clad thickness, clad integrity, bond, and core integrity. The clad tests are performed by eddy current methods and the other are ultrasonic.

From foreword: The purpose of this conceptual design is to outline criteria for the selection and development of a reactor plant with a fossil fuel fired superheater, a conventional generator plant and auxilary systems constituting a complete operating unit capable of producing a gross electrical power output of 22,000 kw.

The large scale application of Zircaloy-2 pressure tubes for structural use either in or out of reactor service, is without precedent. For more common materials, there normally are adequate data and long operating histories on which to base design and service limits. In the absence of such information for Zr-2, several investigative programs have been devised to provide much of the information from which design and service limits may be defined for Zr-2 pressure tubes. These investigations encompass in-and-out-of-reactor creep and stress-rupture testing, pre-and-post irradiation testing, and bust strength, as well as the effect of flaws or defects (from both fabrication and service origins) on burst strength and fracture characteristics. Already creep and stress rupture testing of unirradiated Zircaloy-2 is well advanced, and some experimental pre-irradiation burst testing has been carried out and will be extended rapidly as improved equipment becomes available. One irradiated KER tube sample has been burst tested and the requirement for post irradiation burst testing equipment have been defined.

Limitations on the service life of a fuel element imposed by degradation of the fissile core during irradiation have been a matter of great concern. Limitations imposed by changes in cladding properties during irradiation should be evaluated with equal care. Zircaloy-2, stainless steel, and aluminum alloys have been irradiated in the form of cladding on metallic and ceramic fuel elements. Several aspects of fuel behavior as influenced by these clad materials will be discussed. All observations related to irradiation behavior in this paper have been made on fuel specimens irradiated in water coolant.

The fabrication, irradiation and evaluation of the first two superheat fuel assemblies is described in detail. Experimental data indicate that, in general, the nuclear superheat fuel elements have performed satisfactorily under the testing conditions used. Certain problem areas which will influence future fuel element designs have been defined.

In a previous report the adaptation of Stix's ion-cyclotron-wave-heating scheme to the mirror geometry was suggested. An experiment along these lines has been conducted for the past year by E. Chambers, using a tubular P.I.G discharge to provide the basic plasma. The Chambers experiment has been eminently successful in demonstrating the transfer of rf power along the P.I.G. (as along a co-axial conductor), and the resultant acceleration of ions. The power transfer is evident from the predominantly resistive rf impedance of the P.I.G. (1 - 10 ohms), the production of intense luminosity outside the dc P.I.G channel when the rf is turned on, and by the observation large signals with magnetic pick-up loops. The ion heating is demonstrated by direct measurement of ion current on a probe some centimeters outside the P.I.G., and by the observation of energetic charge-exchange neutrals. At the same time, the characteristic features of heating by ion-cyclotron-waves, as described by Stix, are only partly in evidence. The visible broadening of the P.I.G. channel and such fast-ion phenomena as neutral emission do seem to be maximal near the expected cyclotron resonance point. However, the rf impedance is anomalous both in magnitude and parameter dependence, and there are …