The EBR-II plant includes an integral, remote-controlled Fuel Cycle Facility wherein spent fuel elements are to be pyrometallurgically refined, refabricated, inspected, and reassembled for return to the reactor. A description is given of the experimentally supported changes and refinements made in the prototype sodium-bonding and bondinspection equipment to ensure: (1) acceptable fuel elements for the initial core loading; and (2) equally acceptable elements in production quantities in the parent installation. More specifically, the mode of imparting bonding energy to the fuel element was changed from a vibratory action to a series of timed impacts. This reflected an increase in the yield of acceptable elements and a reduction of machine operation time. A nondestructive, eddy-current instrument was developed and demonstrated as capable of detecting all defects in the liquid sodium bond. The diameter of the lower restrainer knob in the fuel element was increased to eliminate eccentricity as a contributor to erratic level of the sodium bond. As a result, the sodium level can be detected to a tolerance of plus or minus /1/64 in. with a single, encircling eddy-current coil. Shrinkage voids in the sodium were not encountered. However, laboratory test data are presented in support of the conclusions that: …

The pericd from February, 1959, when CE assumed operative responsibility of the SL-1 Reactor Plant, to February, 1960 is covered. The operations of the year are summarized; the reactor, instrumentation, mechanical, electrical, and facility systems are evaluated; health and safety, and the operational costing program are discussed. (auth)

The Stationary Low Power Reactor No. 1 is a three Mw boiling water reactor designed to demonstrate the feasibility of a nuclear reactor to supply electrical power and space heat for remote sites. In addition to performance evaluation the facility provides training for military personnel. The reactor was operated for 1159 hr during the quarter for a total core burnup of 20.3%. Power generation was 103.7 Mwd for a total power accumulation of 466.9 Mwd. Eight malfunctions occurred during the quarter for a total unscheduled downtime of 40 hr 44 min, As a result of malfunctions, aluminum keys will be installed on the control rod drives, instrument well covers were removed, and an order has been placed for a station auxiliaries breaker with a higher temperature rating. Data were taken on seven tests during the quarter. Four of these are expected to be completed during the next quarter. All equipment items on order for the SL-1 power extrapolation expansion program are scheduled to be delivered before June 15, 1960. Although condenser dampers and damper controls, process instrumentation, equipment cabinets, and the radiation monitoring equipment have not yet been ordered, construction will not be delayed. The two tie-ins to the existing …

In the Hanford production reactors, failure of fuel element cladding is known as subcooled burnout since the bulk coolant temperature is below the saturation temperature at time of failure or burnout of the fuel cladding. The heat generation rate at which subcooled burnout occurs, establishes a limit to allowable reactor power level. This document compares present and potential power level limits at the Hanford production reactors with power level limits established by subcooled burnout.

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The Department of Computer Science of the University of Illinois has constructed and put into service ILLIAC II, a large-scale digital computer. ILLIAC II is used both in computer systems research and in general University service.

This report presents the technical observations and conclusions to date of the full-reactor demonstration E-N loading for the combined production of plutonium and tritium. A major incentive for such a loading is the increase in conversion ratio resulting from three factors: (1) A ``blacker`` lattice,, in which a combination of ``E`` metal fuel elements (uranium enriched to 0.95% U{sup 235}) and ``N`` metal target elements (enriched lithium-aluminum alloy) approximately matches the reactivity properties of a natural uranium lattice, results in a smaller proportion of parasitic capture of neutrons in the moderator and other reactor components. (2) The capture of neutrons in fringe target material results in the formation of useful product by a significant fraction of the neutrons otherwise lost by leakage. (3) The burnout of product atoms (plutonium and tritium) is reduced in the blacker E-N lattice, thereby increasing the net yield of product atoms per MWD of heat generation compared to the natural loading. Potential advantages for plant-wide E-N production include the routine processing of a single metal stream for Hanford, increased product quality at reduced throughput, and increased production and recovery of higher isotopes in recycled streams.

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Many of the experiments now being conducted on high-energy accelerators requires the use of beams of charged secondary particles. It is worth while at this time to attempt to summarize information about some of the most useful methods of setting up such beams. We are not concerned here with the primary beam of the accelerator. Rather, they assume that a target is struck by the primary beam and that it is desired to form a beam from the secondary charged particles that emerge from collisions within the target. The simplest system of forming this beam of secondary particles involves the use of magnetic fields only. In most cases it is desirable to obtain a beam of particles of known magnetic rigidity, or momentum. The bulk of this article is addressed to this problem. Some comments are also made about the use of electric fields in conjunction with magnetic fields. The inclusion of electric fields allows the separation of a beam of known momentum into its various components according to the velocities of the particles, hence according to the masses of the particles. These are referred to as ''separated beams''.

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This program on electron radiation damage in metals have included studies of the recovery spectrum of stage I for aluminium. Radiation doping was studied. (DLC)

Given multigroup fluxes and adjoint fluxes of any cylindrical R-Z configuration, 2D PERT may compute: the prompt-neutron lifetime; the relative worth of various delayed neutrons; the integrals of capture, fission, etc., of given materials over any given region; local perturbations, i.e., danger coefflcients; and integrated perturbations, i.e., reactivity effect of uniform variation in the cross sections affecting a whole region. 2D PERT is programmed for a 32K IBM-704 using 3 tape units. The code is written in FORTRAN with the exception of two SAP subroutines. Input fluxes and adjoint fluxes are on tapes which may be obtained either directly from CUREM output or manufactured by a special tape-writing routine. Homogeneous cross sections and variations of these cross sections are either read in as input information or are computed by the code from a microscopic-cross-section library and atomic densities given as input. A combination of these methods may be used. (auth)

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C Reactor horizontal control rods were originally designed to have 32 feet of poison, made of 64 six inch ``cans`` each consisting of two concentric cylinders sealed at each end and the annular space between them filled with boron carbide powder. It was discovered before startup that under irradiation the neutron, alpha reaction in the boron could cause a pressure buildup and rupture of the sealed section. As an expediency cylinders wrapped with 72 miles thick cadmium metal were substituted for the boron ``cans`` and the pressure buildup problem was eliminated. However, since for a unit volume, natural cadmium contains fewer high cross-section nuclei than natural boron, the lifetime of one of these cadmium rods in Hanford flux levels is limited. Five of the original 15 cadmium rods were replaced in 1957 with boron rods of improved design. The primary purpose of this document is to present the results of a study to evaluate the extent of burnout in the remaining ten cadmium rods and their present rate of burnout so that replacement can be scheduled before these rods start losing significant reactivity poisoning effectiveness.

Tests were conducted on an intermetallic compound and a loaded carbon to determine hugoniot equation of state up to 500 kbar at 72 degrees F, using flat-plate impact techniques-- a multiple-wave structure characteristic with an elastic precursor.

This monthly report details activities of the 200 Area for the month of April 1966.

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The objectives of this test are to determine the gross dimensional stability of hot pressed fuel and to evaluate bond quality differences between Al-Si bonds and solid state diffusion bonds. Irradiation testing will be conducted at C Reactor and will be carried out in two parts: Part 1, Sylcor and Hanford hot press diffusion bonding processes will be compared to the Hanford Al-Si bonding process. Eighteen (18) measured monitor columns of CVNS fuel elements will be irradiated to an 800 MWD/T goal exposure. Part 2, Hanford gas pressure and Hanford hot die sizing solid state diffusion bonding processes will be compared to the Hanford Al-Si bonding process. Again, eighteen (18) measured monitor columns of CVNS fuel elements will be irradiated to an 800 MWD/T goal exposure.

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The numerical results of the IBM-704 computer can be put into graphieal form with the aid of the IBM-717 peripheral line printer, and programming techniques using FORTRAN II are described for the production of several kinds of graphs. Different symbols can be used, and a total of 100 horizontal spaces are available, giving a resolution of 1%. (D.L.C.)

The design and development of rocket reactors are considered. Topics included are: thermodynamic calculations of vapor pressure of uranium dioxide, uranium xeonosulfide, uranium monocarbide, zirconium monocarbide, beryllia, and tungsten; thermodynamic calculations of equilibrium interactions of the above materials with hydrogen or water; verification of muitigroup constants used in reactor physics calculations; relations pertaining to a heat transfer parameter study; a heat transfer coefficient correlation for hydrogen; a FORTRAN-II subroutine to compute thermal properties of hydrogen; considerations pertaining to reactor control; and fuel plate stress analyses. (N.W.R.)

The flowsheet visualized from development work thus far for final plutonium recovery and purification will accept as feed a Purex partition stream without feed adjustment beyond the usual reoxidation. Extraction with trilaurylamine at approximately 0.3M appears suitable for 20 to 60 g Pu/liter product from 0.5 to 2 g Pu/liter feed. Scrubbing with either ((2 M or))2 M HNO/ sub 3/ is possible. Acetic acid is at present the first choice for stripping agent, with oil-soluble and aqueous-soluble organic reductants as alternates. (auth)

The gamma rays emitted by ORR fuel elements and by the fuel section of shim rods are measured as a function of position along the elements with a very small graphite ionization chamber. Comparison of the fuel burnup calculated from the gamma measurements and by the flux-time method shows good agreement. This means that the gammaray distribution measurements could be a good method of determining the U/sup 235/ consumption in fuel elements. Distributions of the macroscopic absorption cross section and the infinite multiplication factor along fuel elements are computed from the gamma dose rate distribution. The limited usefulness of the shim rod fuel section is discussed in the last section. (auth)