This report describes a series of acoustic noise sensitivity tests which have been run on accelerometer amplifiers. The test specimens consists of NRX-A1 type components and two additional piezoelectric accelerometers which are being considered for possible application in radiation environments.

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Program 3 of Operation BREN consisted in a study of the performance of biological shields composed of various arrangements of steel, water, and borated polyethylene in spherical, cubical, and parallelepipedal geometries. Studies were also made of the radiation levels within concrete-lined and -capped pits, 4 ft in dia and 8 ft deep. The principal radiation source was the ORNL Health Physics Research Reactor, an unshielded, unreflected, 90 wt % U-10 wt % Mo, cylindrical bare-metal assembly. It was supported at heights ranging from 27 to 1500 ft by a hoist car riding outside of a 1527-ft-high steel tower. A 1200-curie Co/sup 60/ gamma-ray source, similarly supported, was substituted for the reactor for some measurements. The work reported includes measurements of fast-neutron and gamma-ray dose rates and thermal-neutron fluxes in air and within the various shields, using the reactor source, measurements of gamma-ray dose rates in air from the Co/sup 60/ gamma-ray source, and measurements of gamma-ray pulse-height spectra within the pits, also employing the Co/sup 60/ source. 8 refs., 33 figs., 29 tabs.

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The N-Reactor was shutdown on July 7, 1964, due to fuel rupture indications on tube 3361. The rupture has been confirmed as a failure in the downstream inner fuel element in tube 3361 caused by a pin hole in the weld and braze metal. This document presents a historical record of the rupture indications observed prior to and following the shutdown. The operating history of tube 3361 is compared with an adjacent tube, with no abnormal conditions observed at any time. Reactor temperature and power history since initial primary loop heatup are presented to show the total operating history experienced by N-Reactor.

Report documenting standard x-ray diffraction powder patterns for various compounds, intended to replace previous data or provide information for new substances. It describes the methods and, for each substance, outlines any previous data as well as information about the sample used and structural data, with a table of diffraction patterns.

This report describes laboratory-scale studies made to evaluate the feasibility of using uranium(IV)-hydrazine instead of ferrous sulfamate-sulfamic acid as the partitioning agent in the Hanford Atomic Products Operation Purex separations plant. Iron(II), in combination with sulfamic acid as a holding reductant, has been used very successfully for many years as a plutonium reductant in solvent extraction separation processes for irradiated nuclear fuels. However, the iron remains in the radioactive wastes produced in the separation processes. Its presence in these wastes accelerates corrosion of waste concentration equipment, complicates treatment of the waste for by-product recovery and adds to the total quantity of contaminated salts which must be stored. Much effort has gone into searches for plutonium reductans which would not have the disadvantages associated with iron(II). Uranium(IV) has been proposed since, having acted as reductant, it is extracted along with uranium from the irradiated fuels and does in solvent extraction separations processes have involved mixer-settler contactors. The HAPO Purex plant has pulsed-column contactors. This difference, plus certain problems due to the particular flowsheet conditions used, required that additional laboratory studies be made to determine the feasibility of using uranium(IV) in the HAPO Purex plant.

Declassified 27 Nov 1973. Information is presented concerning Tory-2C operations and testing; reactor kinetics; control system and instrumentation; and physical properties of ceramic materials. (DCC)

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The horizontal control rods presently installed in the older Hanford Reactors have inadequate heat transfer characteristics for present and predicted future operation of the reactors. Continued graphite stack distortion, coupled with higher graphite temperatures, has resulted in ECR failure during reactor operation, such as swelling of the outer aluminum sheaths to the extent that rod movement in the graphite channel is severely restricted. Continued graphite stack distortion will tend to further aggravate the problem of rod operation. A new HCR design concept,was developed by P. H. Hutton of Reactor Design, IPD, to alleviate some of the pressing operational problems. Prior to the acceptance of such a design, the important rod operating parameters should be known to some degree of accuracy. This study was conducted to detexmine, by calculational methods, the temperature distributions that could be expected to occur in such an HCR when used at the present operating power levels and at 120% of the present power levels.

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Tube life estimates for the base case and the five study cases are given for 6.6 and 7.0 pH. The fuel sizes and operating conditions for each case are summarized. Information on the mixer position that gives maximum tube life for each case is shown. A tube life distribution was calculated for the base case using the outlet temperature distribution for 1197 central zone tubes at B reactor. Average tube life for the 1197 tubes war estimated to be 3.0 years (100 percent TOE) for operation at 6.6 pH, and the outlet temperature corresponding to average tube life vas l07{degree}C. Similar numbers could be calculated for the study cases if estimates of the outlet temperature distributions were available.

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The General Electric Company, as contractor to the AEC at Hanford, is proposing to modify the fuel loading of one or more of the IPD production reactors for the purpose of producing ``clean`` U-232 as a coproduct with plutonium. The isotope, U-233, with low (3-5 ppM) U-232 content, is expected to become a material with important nuclear applications. The IPD reactors are well suited to produce clean U-233. A proposal to produce 200 kg of U-233 for critical experiments for the AEC`s seed-and-blanket reactor program have been made in response to recent AEC inquiries. The production of such large quantities of U-233, on the schedule requested, would require nearly full utilization of the IPD reactors for a period of about half a year. This report, therefore, is intended to evaluate the nuclear safety of the IPD reactors whose entire loadings have been altered to coproduce U-233 and Pu-239. The coproduct loading will involve irradiating thorium oxide target elements. Excess reactivity to support the target material will be furnished by slightly enriched uranium, charged in tubes separate from the thoria. The expected fuel-to-target ratio is about 5.5 in the reactor cores and two in the reactor fringes. A full technical hazards …

This report, for June 1964 from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO, discusses the following: Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Finished products operation; maintenance; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; employee relations; weapons manufacturing operation; and safety and security.

This report provides reactor physics calculations for prompt burst reactors similar to the Los Alamos SUPO reactor. A discussion of the water boiler runaway at Hanford on November 15, 1951 is also provided.

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