Activities in a project aimed at the improvement of fuel elements for high flux test reactors are reported. The investigation of new fuel compositions, distributions, and geometries is being undertaken to increase fuel life, to improve the flux distribution, and to provide a means of safely reaching higher reactor operating power and power density in these reactors. The effects of nuclear irradiation on the fuel and structural materials is being studied to predict the performance of these materials in more advanced reactor designs. A summary of the past year's progress is given and the fabrication and irradiation of samples containing up to 50 wt % U--Al alloys, cermets of UO/sub 2/, U/sub 3/O/ sub 8/, UC, UN, U/sub 3/Si, and Al, clad in various Al an d Be--Al materials is described. The use of ThO/sub 2/ and Th cores, the addition of BeO to cermet cores and high density fuei cores of U--Al intermetailics produced by powder metallurgy techniques were studied during the year. High strength APM claddings involving Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ contents from 8 to 10% were tested and indicate the need for improved quality control of the APM material. Duplex claddings involving burnable poison layers and APM clad …

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation July 1962. Reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, operations research and synthesis, programming, and radiation protection operation are discussed.

The NPR Hazards Review is being issued in a series of volumes. Volume 1, which has already been published, was of the nature of an expanded summary. It included the results of hazards analyses with some explanatory material to put the results in context. Volume 2 presents results of reviews made after the preparation of Volume 1. It also contains supporting material and details not included in Volume 1. Volumes 1 and 2 together provide a nearly complete ``Design Hazards Review of the NPR.`` However, certain remaining problems still exist and are to be the subject of a continuing R&D program. These problems and programs are discussed in Appendix H. Neither Volume 1 nor Volume 2 treat operational aspects of reactor hazards in detail. This area of concern will be the primary subject of a third volume of the NPR Hazards Review. This third volume, to be prepared and issued at a later date, may also contain information supplementing Volumes 1 and 2.

A procedure was developed for preparing high-purity magnesium oxide for use in growing single crystals needed in studies of radiation effects. The procedure consists in dissolving high-purity sublimed magnesium metal in nitric acid, extracting impurities from the solution into a TTA--Hexone solution, precipitating magnesium carbonate from the aqueous phase, and igniting the magnesium carbonate to magnesium oxide. Amounts of magnesinm oxide from gram to pound quantities can be prepared. (auth)

Three techniques were employed in measuring the fission rate of the STE (SNAP Shield Test Experiment) fission source plate; the thermal neutron absorption rate, power dissipation (calorimetric method), and the fission-neutron production technique. The results obtained, when weighted according to the reciprocal of the squares of the estimated errors, yielded a fission rate of 1.97 x 10/sup 12/ fissions/sec plus or minus 4% for a STE reactor power level of 50 kw. Assuming that 190 Mev of usable energy is liberated per fission of U/sup 235/ , this fission rate corresponds to a fission-plate power of 59.9 watts plus or minus 4%. The calorimetric calibration technique proved to be the most satisfactory of the three techniques used. The design of the STE fission source plate allowed the plate to be enclosed completely in fiberglass insulation and heated electrically as well as by nuclear means. The heating rate is sufficiently high that errors caused by ambient temperature changes are negligible. Details of the three calibration techniques employed are given. The average fission-plate power per unit area was determined to be 2.05 x 10/sup -2/ watts/cm/sup 2/ plus or minus 4%, or about 14 times that of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory …

Progress is reported on preparation of EBWR for highpower operation, development and operation of Borax-V, research and development on liquid metal reactors including ZPR-III, ZPR-VI, ZPR-DS, EBR-I, EBR-II, and FARET. Developments in general reactor technology are reported in physics, fuels, heat transfer, and chemical separations. Developments in advanced research are reported on reactors and direct conversion devices. Work in the area of nuclear safety is also reported. (J.R.D.)

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