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.

This report follows the analysis of uranium samples taken from the southern area of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico.

A report regarding Unicorn - a program used to calculate point cross-sections from resonance parameters.

Report over the cause of mental disabilities, information about them, and a plan put together by the Texas Governor's Interagency Committee on Mental Retardation Planning regarding how to help/prevent mental disabilities.

Summary of the recommendations and statewide plan to improve and expand mental health services in Texas.

Newsletter of the University of Texas Bureau of Business Research outlining statistics and research related to business in Texas.

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It is the purpose of this report to present data obtained from the routine reactor effluent radioactivity monitoring program as well as the results obtained from the research and development program directed toward the reduction of effluent radioactivity.

This report details activities of the N-Reactor Design Analysis Unit for the month of June 1966.

This report details 200 Area activities for the month of May 1966.

Submitted herewith are source and special nuclear material composition of ending reports for the month of May 1966. Production processes and products and weapons process and products are accounted along with nonproduction reactors R&D.

The power of some SRP fuel assemblies is limited by the burnout safety factor (BOSF) in some applications. This power limitation is unnecessarily restrictive, because the current conservatism in predicting film boiling burnout is unusually large compared to that in predicting unstable flow in fuel assemblies. In the past, most SRP fuel assemblies operated at the flow instability limit and were far enough removed from burnout that a convenient and very conservative burnout limit system could be used. If the same degree of safety was used for both burnout and flow instability, the power of BOSF-limited assemblies could be increased. This memorandum, which is part of the program to improve the system for protection against burnout, evaluates the probability and consequences of burnout at various BOSF levels.

A new concept for separation of the isotopes of uranium has been developed. The invention consists of a new process with essentially no moving parts. The new process is called the Ionized Vapor Process and is described in this report.

This report, from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO for May 1966, discusses the following: Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Finished products operation; maintenance; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; and employee-relations, and waste management.

The plutonium production reactors operated by Douglas United Nuclear, Inc., use treated Columbia River water as coolant on a once-through basis. Thus, radionuclides formed largely from the activation of river salts are released to the river. In addition to the radionuclides, heat and other chemicals are also added to the river by the reactor effluent. These discharges give rise to a program which includes three separate and distinct areas of study. The first involves devising practicable methods of reducing the amount of radioactivity released. The second addresses the mechanisms by which the radionuclide releases could result in radiation exposure to people. The third area of study concerns determining the effects of reactor effluent on the quality of Columbia River water. Both the heat and the chemicals added by the effluent are being investigated in the third study area.

Insertion of target materials into a reactor displaces fuel. The remaining fuel must have higher enrichment to maintain reactivity and must operate at higher power density, or higher specific power, to maintain total reactor power. A specific power increase of about 20 percent has been demonstrated power. A specific power increase of about 20 percent has been demonstrated in the U-233 program and in preliminary coproduct irradiations in the N Reactor. Some extension above this is probably feasible with present fuels. However, substantial increase, such as doubling the specific power, may require a change in fuel element design configuration, in fuel core alloy, and in materials used for fuel cladding. In addition, optimum utilization of the N-Reactor recirculating cooling system will require thorough study and perhaps some limited development work. Increasing specific power to improve reactor flexibility with minimum modification of the reactor is especially attractive for the K and N Reactors. It is a possible, though more difficult, alternative to reactor modernization at the small reactors, but it forgoes operating savings and introduces difficult reactor safeguards problems.

The results of our assessment of the processing methods and costs for the recovery of cesium, techneium, rhodium, and palladium from aged waste supernates are presented. Guidelines for the assessment of costs are given. Cesium can be readily absorbed from alkaline waste supernates without prior treatment using Linde AW-500, a synthetic zolite. Technetium, present in the supernate as the pertechnetate anion, together with rhodium and palladium, probably present as anionic nitrite complexes, can be absorbed from untreated waste supernates using Dowex 1-X4 or similar anion resins. Although the behavior of cesium and technetium is reasonably well understood, the behavior of the anionic complex that accounts for the presence of rhodium and palladium in this strongly alkaline solution is not well understood. Further work is required before a process can be outlined for the clean separation of rhodium and palladium from the technetium-rhodium-palladium crude fraction sorbed on the anion resin. An assessment of capital and operating costs for the recovery of cesium only, technetium only, or both cesium and technetium are tabulated. No costs are shown for rhodium and palladium, since the technology for their separation is not sufficiently advanced. However, the incremental cost for their separation from technetium is expected …

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