Analysis of Columbia River temperature trends indicates conformity with those previously reported. Despite unusually high average temperatures, the temperatures of the upper and lower extremes continued to converge on the mean. The construction of the John Day Dam is expected to have little temperature effect other than a delay of ten days in the timing of the annual temperature peak. Measurements of radioactivity in 465 children were completed at the third Pasco elementary school on January 12. Whole-body counting at the fourth school began on January 24, following lectures to the staff and 17 classrooms. The whole-body counter was recalibrated for K{sup 40} and Zn{sup 65} in late January. Only small modifications in the calibration factors over those currently employed are expected. Washington State Game Department personnel have supplied sufficient pheasant and quail samples shot near the Columbia River for comparison of radionuclide content between species and collection of these samples has been discontinued. The Department of Game continues to supply ``road-kills`` for radiochemical analysis in exchange for x-ray data on the number of birds which contain shot. A game-bird questionnaire for mailing to a statistical sample of Tri-City hunting license holders was drafted in January.

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Progress is reported in these areas: fuels development; reactor physics; plutonium utilization studies; and PRTR operatio.

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Tests of mechanical and physical properties and cryogenic wear were performed to qualify a replacement material for the glass-reinforced Teflon used in the NERVA turbopump bearing retainer.

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In the absence of oxidizing or reducing agents the chromatographic and coprecipitation behavior of element 102 is similar to that of the alkaline earth elements. After oxidation with ceric ions, the behavior is that expected of a trivalent actinide. The conclusion is that nobelium is the first actinide for which the +2 oxidation state is the most stable species in aqueous solution.

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In-tank solidification (ITS) of large quantities of goal of aged, alkaline radioactive waste solutions is an integral part of the overall Hanford Waste Management program. Thus, the first ITS unit is currently operational in the 102 BY tank and a second ITS unit recently became operational in the 112 BY tank. The 112 BY tank contains neutralized Metal Recovery Plant waste of the estimated gross salt composition 3.4M NaNO{sub 3}{minus}0.04M NaCl-0.31M NaCH. Tank samples and photographs of the tank interior confirm that a layer of organic material covers at least part of the aqueous waste. The exact volume of the organic material is not known but is presumed small. However, because of possible and unknown hazards, this organic material complicates ITS operations. The experiments summarized in this report were performed to determine the composition and some of the properties and reactions of the organic material to define such hazard.

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Process tube and fuel jacket failures due to corrosion are recurring problems in the operation of nuclear reactors and are generally accentuated by coolant temperature increases. Water mixer fuel pieces which mix the subchannel flow streams are used in the production reactor fuel columns to reduce peripheral and hole-to-annulus coolant temperature disparities and, thus, to reduce corrosion problems. The mixer in current use is approximately two inches long and is attached to a six inch fuel piece. This fuel element with attached mixer is generally placed as the seventh fuel element from the downstream end of the charge. A new miser design has been proposed and is shown. Its basic operation is similar to that of the present design (H-3-17493) in that it exchanges the flow stream in the central hole with fluid in the annulus. The standard mixer utilizes circular interchannels to perform the fluid interchange, whereas, the new mixer uses larger channels of rectangular cross-section. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mixing effectiveness and pressure loss characteristic of this new mixer and to compare it with the performance of the standard mixer.

Fuel element swelling problems have been experienced in the high-exposure fuel irradiation program in C Reactor, In an effort to determine the mechanism responsible for this swelling, three elements from C Reactor, one of which was a ruptures, were sent to the Radiometallurgy Laboratory for visual and metallographic examination. Because the swelled fuel was not numbered as to column position, the exact position of the examined elements is not known but they were believed to have come from the center of the charge and therefore exposures for these individual elements will be 25--50% higher than the column average exposures. This percentage figure was determined from data from nine tubes of C2N fuel which exhibited swelling. These nine tubes operated under nearly the same conditions as the examined elements. Maximum core temperatures for the examined elements are believed to be between 300--340C. The mechanisms for swelling were different in the high and low-exposure fuels. The high-exposure fuel exhibited grain-boundary tearing along a wide circumferential band over the entire transverse section of the fuel examined. The areas near the OD and ID were relatively free from tearing. The low-exposure fuel showed no grain boundary tearing but it did contain angular voids in …

This report presents the details of the status of special reactor process tube loadings for the month of February 1968.

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This report presents details of the activities of Douglas United Nuclear at the Hanford site during the month of January 1968.

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