Report issued by the Bureau of Mines over investigations of coking coal reserves of Sequatchie County, Tennessee. Testing to determine suitability for producing metallurgical coke is also presented. This report includes tables, graphs, maps, illustrations, and photographs.

From introduction: "This report describes the second phase of the work on the application of protective coatings to uranium by vapor deposition to reduce or prevent its corrosion by water."

Abstract: "Refinement of grain size of the base uranium-chromium eutectic alloy (uranium-5 w/o chromium) by ternary additions is discussed. Thirteen additions to the base alloy were investigated, and three additions were found to exhibit worthwhile grain-refinement tendencies. The three alloys, uranium-5 w/o chromium-0.2 w.o molybdenum, uranium-5 w/o chromium-0.2 w/o germanium, and uranium-5 w/o chromium-0.2 w/o niobium, were heat treated to produce final grain-size structures of between 0.015 and 0.033 mm."

The following report focuses on an investigation made to determine if vacuum melting was an absolutely necessary step in the metallurgical process of melting and casting uranium.

Abstract: "A study of plastic flow during the extrusion of tubing was made by extruding colored Plasticine billets in a small-scale extrusion press. Decreasing the included angle of the conical die and tapering the ram end of the billet decreased the amount of coextrusion of the backer block into the tubing, lubricating the billet also decreased coextrusion."

The following report studies the dissolution of aluminum-canned thorium, providing results that suggest a dissolution cycle that permits the separation of the canned-slug components.

Introduction: Thorium and rare-earth metals have come into strategic importance in this country in the last few years with the potential use of thorium in the production of atomic power and the development of new uses for the rare earths in the aircraft industry.

Abstract: "By a simple illustration it is pointed out that, conceivably, the real coupled character of the general magnetohydrodynamic equations may lead to much slower instability growth rates, if not stabilization, than predicted from the linearized set of equations."

The following report provides results from investigations of torsional vibration stresses in the drive shafts of two Westinghouse motor generator sets in 1952.

Production rates of the Hanford reactors can be increased in proportion to the quantity of process cooling water which can be supplied to them. This water must be of such a quality that slug and tube corrosion rates are acceptable, the gross activity of the effluent water must not be excessive, the concentration of specific radioactive isotopes constituting a radiological hazard must be minimized, and the film formation rates should be as low as possible. In the Hanford water treatment process, the filter plants are the controlling factor in determining the quality of the water, and one of the elements limiting the quality of water. A major development effort was therefore undertaken to develop methods of increasing the capacity of the existing filter plants. This report presents the result of this development work from its inception in 1951 to its conclusion in 1954.

Since 105-C Pile was designed without thimbles, gas seals are required on all horizontal control rods to prevent the pile gases from escaping and contaminating the atmosphere.

A program to develop a new fuel element was initiated at Hanford in 1951. A survey of the possible methods of making such a fuel element was completed and a document listing all possible lines of research was written. The problem was outlined as it appeared at that time; various developments which have occurred subsequently have changed this problem to a greater or lesser extent. Essentially the problem concerned the development of a fuel element which would not fail or would fail in a slow and predictable manner and would not cause damage to the pile. A largenportion of the research and development was concerned with the application of these layers. This paper will review the research that was done on the development of these corrosion-resistant layers and will evaluate the problem as it appears now after approximately four years have elapsed.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Ben Shepperd, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Payment of Federal Documentary Stamp Taxes by the University of Texas in certain instances.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Ben Shepperd, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Interpretation of House Bill 223, Acts of the 54th Legislature, exempting certain persons from noncommercial hunting and fishing licenses.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Ben Shepperd, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Effective date for allocation of welfare funds under House Bill 413, 54th Legislature, and related questions.

Study approvals are listed with man-months and date specified. Information and safety agreements were reached. Occupational safety and radiation protection, fuel slug development, instrumentation, ingot rolling, and security violations are discussed topics. Appendices contain information on financial status, pile materials program, instrument development program, and technical division study status. (GHH)

This document discusses high radiation levels which are being encountered in the reactor discharge areas during outages. Rear face dosage rates in B, D, F, DR and H Reactors now average 100 mr per hour. These high radiation rates seriously jeopardize desirable projects which require extensive work on the rear face of these reactors. Evidence has been obtained which indicates that a large source of the radiation is on the interior of the rear face piping and can be removed by chemical solutions. Reference one presents data which indicates that up to 85 per cent of the gamma activity is caused by the contaminated film deposited inside the rear face piping. Reference two discusses the results of chromic acid removal of process tube corrosion products. Reference three more fully describes the possible advantages of purging a reactor with chromic acid and concludes a chromic acid purge should remove the film without adverse effects on reactor structural materials or process tube loadings.

Construction of proposed facilities to be operated under Technical Division supervision for research with plutonium is discussed. An attempt is made in this memorandum to visualize the research program for such a facility for the next five years, to aid in determining whether the cost of providing such facilities is justified.

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Atomic Products Operation, June, 1955. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

The poor corrosion resistance of recent samples press-clad with 6,000 psi at 950 F is believed to have been due to the presence of a large number of stringers intersecting the surfaces of the uranium cores. A better quality metal and an improved pinch-weld will be used in the future. Machining of extrusion dies and mandrel tips by Moczik for the BMI extrusion cladding work is expected to be completed about mid-July. The first attempt to clad the internal surface of a tube by ``hot drawing`` has been completed. A plug was drawn through an aluminum billet placed in the tube and heated to 955 F. A weakly bonded cladding with a poor surface was produced. Several uranium-aluminum billets have been cast into a water-cooled steel mold as a means of varying the cooling rate of the alloy. Billets previously cast into a graphite mold are being examined by radiography in order to determine the effects of the rate of solidification on the segregation of the alloy.

The APPR-I is described and the various hazards are reviewed. Because of the reactor's location near the nation's Capitol, containment is of the utmost importance. The maximum energy release in any possible accident is 7.4 million Btu's which is completely contained within a 7/8 inch thick steel cylindrical shell with hemispherical ends. The vapor container is 60 ft high and 32 ft in diameter and is lined on the inside with 2 ft of reinforced concrete which provides missile protection and is part of the secondary shield. All possible nuclear excursions are reviewed and the energy from any of these is insignificant compared to the stored energy in the water. The maximum credible accident is caused hy the reactor running constantly at its maximum power of 10 Mw and through an extremely unlikely sequence of failures, causing the temperature of the water in the primary and secondary systeras to rise to saturation; whereupon a rupture occurs releasing the stored energy of 7.4 million Btu's into the vapor container. If the reactor core melts during the incident, a maximum of 10/sup 8/ curies of activity is released. While it appears impossible for a rupture of the vapor container to oecur except …

None

None

An internally heated chlorinator using a bed of graphite as a resistor element in contact with molten salt was shown to be feasible. An extended run was completed in an electrolytic cell demonstrating the feasibility of continuous operation. Other studies are reported on chlorination of thorium oxycarbonate and physical metallurgy evaluations of the Th produced. (T.R.R.)