The iodine species formed either by adding hypochlorite to a basic iodide solution or by adding triiodide to sodium hydroxide, was identified as hypoiodite ion. The absorption spectrum of IO{sup -} was investigated in the wavelength range from 450 m{micro} to 280 m{micro}. The kinetics of the reaction I{sup -} + ClO{sup -} = IO{sup -} + Cl{sup -} was studied spectrophotometrically in alkaline solution. The forward rate law was found to be d(IO{sup -})/dt = k(I{sup -})(ClO{sup -})/OH{sup -}. At 25 C and an ionic strength of 1.00 M, k is 61 {+-} 3 sec{sup -1}. It was found spectrophotometrically that for certain ratios of the initial iodide to hydroxide concentrations, there was evidence of the presence of I{sub 3}{sup -}, I{sub 2}OH{sup -}, and I{sub 2}O{sup 2-} along with IO{sup -}. The equilibrium constants between IO{sup -} and these three species were evaluated by a graphical method. The formal potential of the cell: Pt:H{sub 2}:1 M NaOH : 1M NaOH, KI, NaIO : Au was found to be 1.297 v at 25 C. The equilibrium constant, K{sub 2} = (I{sub 3}{sup -})(OH{sup -}){sup 2}/(IO{sup -})(I{sup -}){sup 2}, of the reaction IO{sup -} + 2I{sup -} + H{sub 2}O …

Failures of standard fuel element jackets (1245 aluminum alloy) after relatively short Hanford reactor exposures are occurring at high reactor power levels. Metallographic examination of fuel element jackets from short exposure ruptures shows the cause of failure to be rapid intergranular corrosion. This type of attack has been reproduced in laboratory tests by exposure to water at temperatures above 200 C, or to steam at temperatures higher than 300 C. Flow disruptions due to misalignment of the fuel elements within the reactor process tube, worn tube ribs, etc., are believed to cause the high local jacket temperatures necessary for the occurrence of intergranular corrosion.

This document consists of three photographs of ruptured fuel elements. The position, date charged, date failed, exposure, power, lot and failure type are given for tube 3655-KE, tube 4153-KE, and tube 3849-KE. (GHH)

This document details activities of the irradiation processing department during the month of May 1958. A general summary is included at the start of the report, after which the report is divided into the following sections: Research and Engineering Operations; Production and Reactor Operations; Facilities Engineering Operation; Employee Relations Operation; and Financial Operation.

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, May 1958. Reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, employee relations, operations research and synthesis operation, programming, radiation protection, and laboratory auxiliaries operation area discussed.

The purpose of this supplement is to authorize adjustment of the fuel loading to maintain a balanced longitudinal flux distribution in the region loaded for this Production Test.

Modifications to the 100-K water plant will be made, under Project CG-775, to increase total process water flow rates to 175,000 gpm or greater. Included in the modifications will be the installation of new pump impellers for the primary and secondary process water pumps located in the 190-K Buildings.

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 …

The octant monitors are an improvement over the early sub-pile flux monitors, but they still do not monitor the flux in the active zone of the reactor. Chambers located within the pile active zone would give the desired information but the inpile environment is too severe to allow a reasonable life for these chambers. A beam hole monitor is suggested to provide the desired flux monitoring. The problem of reactor flux monitoring is discussed. The beam hole monitors have the advantage of providing adequate active zone coverage. Calculations were made to show the neutron current and current density at the chamber location as a function of the collimation of the detector assembly. These curves show the present sub-pile and octant monitors are sensitive primarily to the flux in the pile reflector rather, than in the active zone. The beam hole monitors can be made sensitive to the active zone flux only. Sufficient chamber current can be obtained to operate available trip circuitry. It is recommended that experimental work be started to prove out these beam hole monitors so any new reactor program may take advantage of them and that the monitoring of present piles can be improved.

The performance of I & E fuel elements under the original tests{sup 1} was such that they are now being charged at C Reactor on a production basis. Data obtained from the original test, however, were not sufficient to indicate long term corrosion effects of the use of these elements, nor to accurately define their operating characteristics. It is the intent of this test, therefore, to provide for long term corrosion monitoring in tubes charged with and without water-mixing pieces; and to obtain the required operating data to refine the operating characteristics of this fuel upon which power limits are based.

This report contains brief discussions on reactor physics on: metallurgy; production piles; separation plants; plutonium recycle program; and cross section measurements.

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The composition of dissolver off-gas was determined for seven different dissolvings of uranium in nitric acid (both with one and two dissolvers in operation) at irregular intervals during February, March, and April, 1958. Samples were taken at the Purex 293-A facility absorber inlet, scrubber inlet, and scrubber discharge. The absorber was operated with and without reflux, and the scrubber was operated with water or with approximately 10% sodium hydroxide. This memorandum describes the sampling procedures and analytical methods and gives the gas analyses found.

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To date, no data is available on the swelling rates of unrestrained unalloyed uranium rods operating at 450--630C core temperature and 250--350C surface temperature. These temperature ranges are of extreme interest in the Hanford fuel element development program. To obtain information on the effect of cladding restraint, exposure, and the above temperatures, on uranium swelling rates, a series of experiments is being designed for irradiation in Hanford reactors. The experimental assembly consists of a uranium fuel rod supported concentrically in an aluminum capsule. Surrounding the fuel rod is an annulus of liquid NaK to serve as a heat transfer agent. To provide a check on the operation and temperature calculations of the capsules, it is proposed initially to make a single irradiation in a normal process tube. The uranium core temperature will be continuously monitored by a thermocouple, and flux measurements will be made in the capsule to determine the specific power of the fuel.

In a recent report, means of circumventing the present bulk temperature limits are suggested. These have definite merit but do not present an over-all picture of the problem. Therefore, this bulk temperature limit is reviewed in order to place the problem in its full perspective. A program of action is suggested that should lead to: Revised operating conditions and process piping to obtain higher power levels at the same bulk outlet temperature; The completion of production tests to permit higher bulk outlet temperatures with no significant changes in reactor piping; or Redesign of the effluent system to eliminate bulk temperatures as a reactor operating limit.

On the basis of numerous rough calculations it has generally been assumed that if the water flow to a tube were to stops while pile operation continued. The tube central temperature would increase in a matter of seconds to dangerously high values. In several seconds the water around the central slugs would flash to steam, shortly thereafter the aluminum cans would melt and this would give good contact between the slug and the tube which would quickly melt. The bare uranium would react with the steam and possibly the pile gas atmosphere. Radioactive Xenon and fission products would be spread through the gas system, and the molten aluminum and uranium would fill up all of the cracks in the graphite and the tube would be impossible to discharge by all normal methods after the pile is shut down. If the pile were operated with this tube blocked off there would still be the problem of exceedingly high graphite temperatures around it, and the spread of contamination in the gas system. Because these problems are expected with an undetected water failure in a pile, where the operation is maintained, a program is underway to ensure proper and sufficient tube instrumentation to …

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The May, 1956 monthly report for the Chemical Processing Department of Hanford Atomic Products Operation includes information regarding research and engineering efforts with respect to the Purex and Redox process technology. Also discussed is the production operation, finished products operation, power and general maintenance, financial operation, engineering and research operations, and employee operations. (MB)

By the use of a radically new method they have succeeded in identifying unambiguously an isotope of element 102. In other careful experiments conducted over a period of many months they find that they are unable to confirm the element 102 discovery work of Fields et al. reported in 1957. The experiments at Berkeley were performed with the new heavy ion linear accelerator (HILAC) over a period of several weeks and culinated the chemical identification of an isotope of fermium (Fm{sup 250}) as the daughter of an alpha-particle-emitting isotope of element 102 (102{sup 254}). The method used to detect the isotope of element 102 was essentially a continuous milking experiment wherein the atoms of the daughter element 100 were separated from the parent element 102 by taking advantage of the recoil due to the element 102 alpha particle decay. The target consisted of a mixture of isotopes of curium (95% Cm{sup 244} and 4.5% Cm{sup 246}) mounted on a very thin nickel foil. The target was approximately 0.5 mg/cm{sup 2} thick and was covered with 75 {micro}gm/cm{sup 2} aluminum to prevent curium 'knockover'. The curium was bombarded with mono-energetic C{sup 12} ions at energies from 60 to 100 Mev. The …

In many score of experiments conducted in various ways over a period of many months they find that they are unable to confirm the element 102 discovery work of Fields et al. reported in 1957. These experimenters ascribed to an isotope of element 102 an alpha particle activity having an energy of 8.5 {+-} 0.1 Mev and a half-life of approximately 10 minutes. It was reported to be produced by bombardments of a 1 mg/cm{sup 2} curium target with 0.03-0.10 mter-microamperes of C{sup 13} ions of about 90 Mev energy in the internal beam of the Nobel Institute 225 cm cyclotron. Our attempts to reproduce this activity were made with the monoenergetic ion beam available from the Berkeley heavy ion linear accelerator (HILAC). Curium with a similar isotopic composition was used, except that instead of one target they used six separate electroplated targets, four with 0.4 mg/cm{sup 2} curium and two with 0.1 mg/cm{sup 2} curium. These were mounted in vacuum so that the heavy ion beam could pass through and knock the transmutation recoils into 0.9 mg/cm{sup 2} palladium foils. After a suitable bombardment the six catcher foils were dissolved in a few drops of concentrated aqua regia and …

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Weight data on the following liquid metal to air radiators is requested. This information is to be used in a comparison of the performance attainable with different nuclear reactors and liquid metal systems in a ram-jet powered airplane. The radiator dimensions are based on estimates using the performance curves presented in CNLM-338.

Bubble phenomena have been given a new meaning with their study in relation to the kinetic behavior of reactors. Prior to their study in relation to physics, the bulk of work on bubble phenomena concerned naval engineering problems of behavior in cavitation and water entry behavior. This bibliography is intended to fill the need of the reactor physicist as well as the naval engineer. An attempt has been made to include all available references on bubble phenomena and associated effects. A subject index has been purposely omitted. It is felt that the breakdown in content headings is sufficient to ascertain areas of interest. There will be overlapping of headings and to find all possible entries, a search through the headings may be desirable. To increase the usefulness of this bibliography the location of an abstract has been cited wherever possible following the reference. Classified reports are included; however, their titles contain no classified information. Sources used in compiling this bibliography are: Chemical Abstracts, Industrial Arts Index, Applied Mechanics Review, Nuclear Science Abstracts, the AEC Abstracts of Classified Literature, the AEC card catalogs available at Atomics International, and the bibliographic services of Armed Services Technical Information agency. (auth)