Test work was completed on development of a stripping method for the amine extraction (Amex) process which produces a concentrated uranyl nitrate solution for shipment to the refinery. This procedure offers potential cost savings by simplifying the overall mill-refinery flowsheet. The process involves treatment of the amine extract with calcium nitrate solution to convert the uranium in the solvent to a nitrate complex, stripping the uranium with water or dilute nitric acid, and recovery of nitrate from the solvent for recycle by contact with a lime slurry.

The development of swaging and vibratory compaction process for fabrication of clad UO2 fuel rods is described. The cost is less than 50% of that for an equivalent core fabricated from pellets. The irradiation testing of vibratory filled and swaged UO2 rods is reported for burn-ups from 2,000 to 12,000 Mwd/t UO2; the results indicate that the rods are capable of excellent performance power reactors.

By using a large central fuel and blanket reprocessing facility, slurry-fueled aqueous homogeneous reactors can attain an estimated minimum fuel cycle cost of 1.4-1.6 mills/kwh; with solution-fueled two-region reactors, a doubling time of 14 years may be obtained at a fuel cycle cost of 2.0 mills/kwh. On-site processing appears desirable only for large power stations made up of reactors designed for short doubling times. For instance, a solution-fueled two-region reactor can attain a 12-year doubling time at an estimated fuel cycle cost of 1.5 mills/kwh at a 2000 Mw electricity station with an on-site processing plant.

The nuclide Cs-137 is a fission product commonly used for measurement of uranium burnup in irradiated uranium fuel by the fission product to uranium ratio method. In the application of this method, the largest single error introduced in the measurement of burnup is the uncertainty in the half-life of Cs-137. Because of the uncertainty in this value and its importance in nuclear fuel burnup analysis, a reinvestigation was undertaken to obtain a more accurate value using the mass spectrometric method.

"The quantum theory problem of constructing explicitly a local Lorentz invariant model field theory which has an asymptotic particle interpretation and gives rise to an S matrix different from unity is discussed. It is proved that if a local covariant field H(x) has a complete current, the S matrix associated with this field is identically equal to unity. Results show that in order to get an interaction, the current is not allowed to have a terminating expansion in terms of a free field. The absence of a finite connection between a free field and an interacting field tended to confirm the belief that in local quantum field theories with particle interpretation the requirement of the existence of scattering forces in the physical states are such that it is not pos sible to identify them with a linear space spanned by ""free'' particle states."

Abstract: A cyclic stress analysis of the SM-1 primary system was carried out. Problems encountered in the fabrication of PM-2A Core II and SM-lA Core II are described, and the results of an examination of damaged SM-lA Core I stationary fuel elements reported. A preliminary study of the radiation damage to SM-1 reactor vessel was made and the possibility of annealing the vessel discussed. Performance analyses are presented for five cores: SM-1 Core, SM-1 Core 1 rearranged and spiked, SM-1 Core II with special components, PM-2A Core 1, and SM- 1A Core 1. Preliminary critical experiments were made with SM-2 elements in a SM- 1 core configuration and nuclear and thermal analyses of the use of SM-2 elements in SM-1, SM-1A, and PM-2A completed. A throttling steam calorimeter was selected for measuring moisture carry-over on the PM-2A steam generator. Test procedures for evaluating the shielding of the SM-1, SM-lA, and PM-2A plants are summarized. Radiochemical and chemical analyses of SM-1 coolant and crud are summarized, and methods of activity control discussed. Preliminary results of studies of the properties of reactor pressure vessels under irradiation and no irradiation conditions are summarized briefly.

The ORIC (Oak Ridge Relativistic Isochronous Cyclotron) radiofrequency system for which Model III represents the resonator is the third system which has received enough consideration to warrant construction of a model. The purpose of the model is to check the calculations for the frequency range and excitation power of the resonator. After an introductory description of the r-f system and model, the detailed calculations of the properties of the model will be given followed by the data from measurements of the model characteristics.

A method was developed for the spectrophotometric determination of 30 to 100 ug of osmium as OSO4 is extracted with CHCl3 and diphenylcarbazide is then added to the organic extract. A blue-violet reaction product is formed, the absorbancy of which is measured at 560 mu. A suitable reagent concentration is from 3 to 5 ml of 0.2% diphenylcarbazide in a volume of 25 ml and the preferred solvent for the reagent is ethanol. Beer's law is followed over a range of 8 to 130 ug of osmium with a coefficient of variation of about 4%. After a 2-hour color-development period the molar absorbancy in less than 2 hours were unsuccessful. A study was made of the effects of foreign elements and only Ru(VIII) was found to interfere.

The feasibility of using electroless nickel, a chemical deposit containing about 10 wt% phosphorous in nickel, as the brazing alloy for assembling tubular stainless steel fuel elements of the type specified in Core I of the N. S. Savannah was investigated. This material was nelected primarily because of the case of braze-metal preplacement by chemical deposition of the alloy on type 304 stainless steel ferrule spacers, prior to fuel-bundle assembly. Brazed joints produced by this method were generally characterized by a relatively ductile solid-solution region at the thinnest portions of the fillet. This ductile zone should minimize the possibility of complete propagation of hairline cracks, which form in the brittle, eutectic regions of fillet.

(p,xp) reactions are those nuclear reactions induced by high energy protons in which both the mans and the charge of the target nucleus are reduced by x-1 units. The most common type of these reactions to be expected in the 100 to 400 Mev region involves the exclusive emission of protons as a results of the interactions. The specific (p,xp) reactions investigated in this study were those where 2 is less than or equal to x where x is less than or equal to 5.

From abstract: "This progress report describes four IBM 704 codes developed and used by UCRL, Livermore, to investigate the motion of any object in the force fields of the sun and any or all of the planets and their satellites."