The purpose of the test described in this report was to determine the effect of production reactor flux on ceramic materials being considered for lining the vertical safety rod channels at the production reactors. This document is being written to describe the test, the results to date, and the work which remains to be done. The materials being evaluated in the test are: Aluminum silicate (Maryland Lava Co.); silicon nitride bonded silicon carbide (Norton Co. ``crystalon``); and aluminum oxide 85% (Norton Co. ``Alundum RA-98``).

This report, for August 1964 from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO, discusses the following: Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Finished products operation; maintenance; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; employee relations; weapons manufacturing operation; and safety and security.

This report, for July 1964 from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO, discusses the following: Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Finished products operation; maintenance; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; employee relations; weapons manufacturing operation; and safety and security.

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Irradiation of thorium oxide elements of the original test began in January 1964. Twenty columns of thorium oxide elements located in the outermost processing channels of F Reactor, accompanied by 40 columns of enriched, 0.947 w/o U-235, uranium elements in two adjacent lattice unit channels, were charged to permit evaluation of the reactivity effects of the loading and to obtain data on product and contamination build-up rates. Of the two loadings of thoria elements authorized by the initial test, the first has been discharged. Supplement A to Production Test IP-648-AC authorized two of the columns of thorium oxide elements to be irradiated through both cycles of the fringe loading. This supplement, Supplement B, to the test involves modification of the discharge schedule of the second loading of thoria elements and the two columns of elements authorized by Supplement a to permit discharge of the thoria columns at goal exposure of the supporting enriched uranium fuel columns.

The final product from the Reduction Operation at the present time is an unalloyed button of reasonably high purity and density. Considerable effort is being directed toward improvement of button purity and surface finish, or appearance. A direct ingoting step is proposed in place of button pickling as a practical means of improving metal quality and appearance. A second ingoting step is proposed to further improve process economics through improved radiographic integrity. Ingoting of buttons immediately following reduction appears to be a more direct and practical approach to definition and improvement of metal purity and improvement of product appearance. The proposed process change places button ingoting within the scope of the Reduction Operation. The final product from the Reduction Operation will then be an ingot of uniform composition (no segregation), reliable density and plutonium content (no slag inclusions or voids). The ingot could be subdivided in this operation, ready for Foundry use; or it could be cast as an ingot of assured quality for off-site shipment.

The irradiation performance of Zircaloy-2 clad thorium-uranium fuel elements under water-cooled power reactor conditions continues to be excellent. Fuel swelling continues to be no more than that required to accommodate the fission product atoms. Measured fuel swelling is less than one percent at 3.1 {times} 10{sup 20} fissions/cc (9,300 MWD/T). The addition of iron and aluminum to metallic uranium fuel elements has been shown to markedly decrease fuel swelling. The improved swelling performance is attributed to a decreased tendency to form mechanically induced porosity and is believed to result from the dispersed second phase particles inhibiting the movement of structural defects formed as a consequence of the anisotropic growth of alpha uranium.

This report, for March 1964 from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO, discusses the following; Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; employee relations; and weapons manufacturing operation.

This report, for September 1964 from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO, discusses the following: Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Finished products operation; maintenance; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; employee relations; weapons manufacturing operation; and safety and security.

This report for November 1964, from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO, discusses the following: Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Finished products operation; maintenance; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; employee relations; and weapons manufacturing operation.

A proposal has been made for ingoting of buttons, without pickling, immediately after breakout from the reduction vessel. This proposed process change could enable the substitution of an ingot of definable, high purity, and good appearance in place of a button as the final product of the Reduction Operation. The change should also achieve economic advantages and decrease radiation exposure. The packaging and storage of the resultant high-grade ingot will require a change of storage container from that presently used to eliminate plastic materials. High-grade plutonium metal corrodes rapidly when packaged in plastic. The ingots, to be prepared in the process test described below, provide an opportunity for testing of a revised, organic-free storage container. The purposes of this process test do not depend on the nature of the buttons processed, hence the tests could be run with unalloyed buttons or with alloyed buttons (RAB), as current FAB needs dictate.

This monthly report has the following sections: (1) Radioelements - Uranium-234, Hydrolytic Separations of Protactinium, Polonium-208 and Polonium-209; (2) Isotope Separation and Purification - Carbon-13, Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, Thermal Diffusion Research, and Helium Research; (3) Analytical and Instrumentation - Neptunium Analysis, Cobalt Analysis, Analysis of Enriched Uranium-234 for Comparison Purposes, Analysis of Stearic Acid in Silver Powder, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies, Semiconductor Radiation Detectors, and Calorimetry.

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The nuclear age, which has been with us slightly more than 20 years, has brought with it an unusual awareness of a relatively new toxic agent--ionizing radiation. In fact, a new science, health physics, was created to give special attention to this problem. As a consequence and in spite of the unparalleled hazards associated with ionizing radiation, this new nuclear industry is growing rapidly into a benevolent giant bringing a better way of life while at the Same time maintaining radiation damage at an insignificant level. Although i n the past few decades we have learned much more about the hazards associated with ionizing radiation than those associated with some of the common industrial hazards and although maximum permissible exposure levels for the radionuclides have been established with greater reliability and confidence than have the levels for many chemical agents with which man has been familiar for many centuries, there still remains a considerable uncertainty in many of the basic assumptions and in the parameters used in the calculation of maximum permissible body burden and maximum permissible concentration of the various radionuclides in food, water and air. There is need to determine the uptake, distribution and elimination of a variety …

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