Fuel element misalignment is an apparent cause of ``hot-spot`` ruptures. Several methods of eliminating hot spots have been tried, however, none appear to have completely solved the hot-spot problem. Attachment of projections to the side of the fuel elements appears to offer a means of minimizing misalignment since they act as bumpers against the side of the process tubes. Preliminary data from tests now in progress or recently completed indicate excessive corrosion rates are not to be expected on fuel elements with projection attached. In fact, no hot spots were found on 39 columns of normal self-supported I&E fuel elements discharged at normal goal or on four columns of enriched self-supported I&E elements irradiated to 850 mwd/t exposure.

Although there were the ususl fluctuations in background at certain of the monitoring stations, the contamination levels recorded do not differ significantly from those of the previous year except that there appears to be a slight trend downward. Data are tabulated. This downward trend can be attributed to a curtailment of operations at the Laboratory, the gradual implementation of the containment program, and a curtailment in world-wide weapons testing. Tall-out data are included. Two personnel exposures were recorded which have been reported elsewhere. One emPloyee received a relatively high exposure to the left hand which consisted primarily of soft radiation. A second employee apparently has accumulated a sizeable fraction of a permissible body burden of Pu/sup 239/. The number of unusual occurrences increased over the previous year. However, in general, these events posed only routine problems and it is probable that the noted increase in such occurrences is due primarily to a more complete reporting system which was inaugurated early in the year. (auth)

Because of various evaluation studies on fuel stability, it is proposed that Coors Porcelain Company change their recipe for fueled tubes. Specifically, zirconyl nitrate should be used. in addition to uranyl nitrate. The detailed changes to be made are provided.