Introduction: In September of 156, Gilbert Associates, Inc., entered into a contract with the United States of America, acting through the United States Atomic Energy Commission, for the study and preliminary design of a nuclear power plant being considered for integration into a central station power system at an overseas site.

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A series of explosions, estimated at five, occurred over a period of ten seconds within the continuous dissolver pilot plant, of the Fluoride Volatility Project on May 15, 1957. The explosive reactions occurred in the dissolver vessels as a result of violent chemical reactions between uranium and an interhalogen mixture. Just what the conditions were which triggered the explosions, have not been definitely established. Nevertheless, based upon the evidence which has been collected, several possible explanations, listed according to probability, are presented. A number of recommendations are included to be followed before operation of the pilot plant is resumed. These recommendations relate to additional laboratory research, equipment design, facility design, and use of a review committee. Safety rules for handling BrF/ sub 3/, BrF/sub 5/, ClF/sub 3/, and Br/sub 2/ are appended. (C.H.)

The so-called Fluoride Volatility Processes refer to several proposed non-aqueous methods of processing irradiated fuel elements. In each of these methods, the uranium is fluorinated to UF6 and then decontaminated by distillation. One of those methods, involving the direct fluorination of the uranium by bromine trifluoride (BTF), has been under investigation at BNL since 1950. In 1952, it was demonstrated at BNL that uranium, as UF6, could be satisfactorily decontaminated by distillation in small-scale pilot plant equipment; end in 1953, BNL undertook the job of determining the technical feasibility of a continuous dissolver on a pilot-plant scale. The reason for the project was that the economic superiority of the process seemed to depend upon its amenability to continuous operation.

From abstract: "Adsorption of radioactive zirconium-niobium from uranyl nitrate solutions by silica gel was increased by increasing the temperature and time the solution contacts silica gel, and decreased by "aging" the solutions before contacting the silica gel."

From Introduction: "The present report is concerned with the characteristics of a body in the two-dimensional flow field of a circular-arc wing of rectangular plan form."

"Results are presented for the loads and moments acting on the individual tail surfaces of a body-tail combination over a wide range of angles of attack and sideslip. The effects of forebody length and panel-panel interference on the characteristics are included. It is shown that large nonlinear variations in these loads and moments, which occur at some combinations of angle of attack and sideslip, cannot be predicted by low-angle theory" (p. 1).

An ionization-type alpha counter is used to mensure the uniformity of thin coatings of alpha -emitting materials to plus or minus l% exclusive of statistical error. The (n, alpha ) reaction allows the counter to be used for measuring the uniformity of B/sup 10/ foils when a suitable neutron source is provided. (auth)

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Memorandum presenting an analysis of one-spool ducted-fan engines in order to determine the primarily limitations on ducted-fan-engine design and to compare this type with the turboprop and turbojet engines for the same application. Designs were studied at flight Mach numbers of 0 and 0.6 at sea level and Mach numbers of 0.6 and 0.8 at the tropopause. Results regarding the discussion of charts, effect of design parameters on turbine stress, effect of design parameters, effect of design parameters on thrust specific fuel consumption, and effect of design parameters on thrust per unit total weight flow are provided.

Report presenting measurements of the loads of the wing of a Boeing B-47A medium bomber using strain-gage instrumentation during 23 symmetrical push-pull maneuvers at a variety of altitudes, Mach numbers, and gross weights. Time histories of aerodynamic shear, bending moment, and torque at each of four spanwise stations on the left wing and one on the right wing were created. Based on the results, presently available methods seem to be capable of predicting additional and basic loads accurately within the range of flight conditions in the test.

Twenty-nine references to published literature articles and reports on preparation, color reactions, and analytical uses of 2- (2-hydroxy-3,6-disulfo- 1naphthylazo)-benzenearsonic acid are given (T.R.H.)

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This report discusses an apparatus that has been constructed to record the thermoluminescence of a mineral in the form of a powder or a single crystal at temperatures from -100 C to +400 C.

Report presenting an evaluation of a number of factors affecting engine-airframe arrangements in terms of range. Appropriate equations are developed and evaluated for a range of Mach numbers, ramjet and turbojet engines at several cycle temperatures, and two airplane lift-drag ratios. Some of the factors explored include inlet locations, jet cant for lift, engine moments for trim, a combination of the three factors, and the use of boundary layer in the engine.

From abstract: The vapor pressure determination of solid ThF4 has been completed. Experiments to determine the heat of formation of ThF4 by studying the reaction of ThF4 with SiO2 are described.

"Expressions are found to relate DELTA gamma to the n-errors.'' It is demonstrated that the integral n-value concept'' is of no use in the present case. A modification of integrated n-value'' is suggested."

This report addresses the bibliography on radiochemical processing of irradiated fuel elements.

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Note presenting some calculations made on the basis of simplifying assumptions to determine the effect on the ground-run distance of maintaining a nose-high attitude instead of a three-point attitude in landings of several types of jet airplanes on slippery runways. The airplanes considered were a swept-wing transport and unswept-, swept-, and delta-wing fighters. Results regarding the effect of airplane attitude and effect of flap retraction are provided.

Memorandum presenting a theory for evaluating the mutual interference between a wing and tip tank as extended to apply to store-pylon configurations. By using the theory and the flow-field formulas of a previous report, theoretical store-pylon side-force estimates have been made for a number of store-pylon configurations. Results regarding the theory for store-pylon side force, scope of test configurations, contribution of store and pylon to combined load, effect of store spanwise location on the store-pylon side-force coefficient, effect of pylon sweep and store chordwise location, effect of sideslip on the store-pylon side-force coefficient, effect of fins on store side-force coefficient, and interference effects between inboard and outboard stores are provided.

A calculation was performed to determine the highenergy portion of the gamma-ray flux at the surfacc of the uranium-aluminum BSF reactor. The flux was considered to consist entirely of the uncollided flux plus the Comptonscattered flux. The four sources of primary gamma rays included in the calculation were prompt fission gamma rays, capture gamma rays from aluminum, capture gamma rays from uranium, and fission-product decay gamma rays. These sources were divided into four energy groups. Although the assumptions used to calculate the Comptonscattered flux tended to over-estimate the actual spectrum, the calculated results were considerably lower than a previously measured spectrum. (auth)

A fused fluoride process for dissolution of zirconium-uranium fuel alloys is being developed. The alloy is dissolved in an equimolar sodium fluoride-zirconium fluoride melt at 600°C by sparging the system with hydrogen fluoride. The uranium is volatilized from the melt as the hexafluoride by a sparging operation with fluorine or bromine pentafluoride vapor. This product is then decontaminated and purified by fractional distillation.