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An investigntion was made of the performance of a gas-cooled reactor, designed to provide a source of high temperature heat to a stream of helium. This reactor, in turn, is used as a source of heat for the air stream in a gas- turbine power plant. The reactor design was predicted primarily on the requirement for transferring a large amount of heat to the helium stream with a pressure drop low enough that it will not represent a major loss of power in the power plant. The mass of uranium e uired far criticality under various circumstances was investigated by multigroup calculations, both on desk calculators and on an IBM-704 machine. The gasturbine power plant perfarmance was studied based on a Studebaker-Packard-designed gas-turbine power plant for the propulsion of destroyer-escort vessels. A small experimental program was carried out to study some effects of helium on graphite and on structural steels. (auth)

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The absorption spectra for Pu(III), (IV), (VI), and the red Pu(IV)- peroxy complex were determined in HNO/sub 3/ solution. Extinction coefficients for the above species of Pu were measured. Temperature has little effect on the spectra, but variation of acidity causes shifting of absorption peaks and some changes in the extinction coefficients. The absorption spectra and extinction coefficients in the region 390 to 1200 m mu were measured for chromic, nickelous, manganous, calcium, lanthanum, aluminum, ferrous. ferric, and permanganate ions in HNO/sub 3/ solutions. In addition, the effects of nitrite, oxalic acid, sulfamic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and various HNO/sub 3/ concentrations on the extinction coefficients of some of these ions were determined. The chromic, nickelous, ferrous, and permanganate ions, and ferric ion with oxalic acid, have sufficiently high extinction coefficients to cause inaccuracies in valence determinations of Pu in solutions containing high concentrations of these ions, unless corrections are made. (auth)

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A total of 270 animals of 5 species was exposed by inhalation to compounds of zirconium for 6 hours per day, 5 days per week. One group of animals was exposed to ZrO{sub 2} at an atmospheric concentration of 75 mg. Zr/m{sup 3} for 30 days; another, to 11 mg. Zr/m{sup 3} for 60 days. A third group was exposed to a mist of ZrCl{sub 4} at a level of 6 mg. Zr/m{sup 3} for 60 days. Zirconium oxide produced no significant changes in mortality, growth rate, blood nonprotein nitrogen or fibrinogen, urinary protein, hematological values or histological structure. Zirconium tetrachloride at 6 mg. Zr/m{sup 3} gave questionable changes in blood hemoglobin concentration and red cell counts of dogs and a slight increase in mortality of rats and guinea pigs. Inhaled zirconium compounds deposited primarily in the lung and pulmonary lymph node, with a fraction of a per cent in the bone and considerably less in the soft tissues. (auth)

Study of a gas cooled reactor with design specifications providing for a source of high temperature heat to a stream of helium. This reactor, in turn, is used as a source of heat for the air stream in a gas-turbine power plant.