This report presents a brief discussion of a reactor incident at the 105-D area.

This weekly technical progress letter details 100 Area activities for the week of May 28 through June 3, 1946.

On June 3 the writer was detailed to the 300 Area to study operations in Bldg, 313. Seven days were spent with C shift in the caning and dipping area. In this period, a system of coordinating press cycles was developed to utilize machine time most effectively. Subsequently, a brief amount of time was spent working in a design of the can cleaning area so as to incorporate the aluminum can etching operation and facilitate the handling and flow of materials. The next stage of perhaps a week was devoted to a study of inspection and testing methods. The final period of one week was utilized mainly to develop a method of storing finished material so as to provide the maximum amount of piece-classification flexibility without incurring enormous burdens in the movement of material to later stages of the operation.

This report summarizes physics experiments carried out in different parts of the 100 area at Hanford during December, 1946. This included work on the D pile, F pile, and experiments aimed at studying the irradiation properties of graphite and metal samples exposed to different radiation environments. Pile tests included reactivity tests, calibrations of control rods, and power coefficient tests.

This report details events of importance reported by the Hanford Operations Office for the week ending July 6, 1949.

Recent data show that test hole samples out from the center of a bar show greater expansion rates than do samples out from the edge of a bar. The previously noticed irregularities in expansion of test hole samples are attributed to this phenomenon. For unexplained reasons, the expansion of the graphite piles is in close agreement with the smaller expansion rates shown by test hole samples rather than with the larger rates. It is recommended that the neoprene coal on the far side of the F pile be placed before the end of the year. It is recommended that the neoprene seal on the near side of the D Pile be replaced after replacement neoprene is on hand. It is recommended that the compressed cork and about 4 inches of the cement block was in back of the Third Safety Tanks at the D Pile be removed at the time of replacement of the neoprene seal, and that the resulting gap be covered with a flexible air-impermeable membrane such as rubberized canvas. Actual measurement of the length of graphite between the gun barrels of Tube 3671-B confirms the predicted end-wise expansion of the graphite as deduced from jacking tests on …

Data acquired from the temperature survey of the Columbia River, April 2, 1945, is presented.

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Fifty-four spectral lines of curium are listed together with estimated intensities. A brief description of the manner of taking the spectra and of measuring the lines is given. Three separate samples of curium, in all seven micrograms, were submitted for spectrochemical analysis. The samples in acidic solution (HCl) were evaporated on copper electrodes and analyzed as outlined for the copper spark method. An Applied Research Laboratories spark source was used. The spectra were taken on a Baird Associates spectrograph of the modified Eagle type which has a dispersion of 5.6 A/mm in the first order. Spectrum Analysis photographic plates were used and were processed according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The plates were placed in the projection comparator (also an Applied Research Laboratories Unit) and the lines measured using the scale associated with the projection screen. The copper lines of the spectra were used as a wavelength standard. In all 54 lines which we feel can be attributed to curium were found. These, together with an estimated intensity based on an arbitrary 1 to 10 scale, are listed in Table 1. Due to the high alpha-activity of curium special care had to be exercised in handling the samples. In this case …

The theory of high energy nuclear stars depends on a theory of nuclear transparency and on a theory of nuclear evaporation. The transparency can be computed on the basis of a model proposed by R. Serber as soon as the interactions between the nucleons and the incident particle are known. The evaporation can be computed on the basis of the statistical model of the nucleus as soon as the nuclear entropy and binding energies of the evaporated particles are known. With approximate values for the above interactions, entropies, and binding energies, a probability distribution has been computed for the number of prongs per star. The results are in qualitative agreement with the observations on photographic emulsions described in Part 1.

A device for manipulating a pair of tongs behind a shielding barrier has been built and tested. It is called a Master-Slave Manipulator because the slave tongs move in exact correspondence with a master handle. The "slave hands" follow the master hands in complete synchronism. This is the first completely master-slave manipulator known to exist and has proved that this type of manipulation is very successful when the unit is prooperly engineered and built.

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Certain difficulties have been encountered in attempts to substitute a 'one-step' casting process, developed at Iowa State College, for the 'normal' process generally used for the production of extrusion billets. In the 'one-step' process molten metal is delivered from the reduction bomb to the billet mold instead of allowing the metal to solidify in the bomb with subsequent vacuum remelting of the biscuit metal before casting in the billet mold. Routine analyses had failed to establish significant differences in the composition of normal and one-step metal. The one-step billets had been extruded satisfactorily, and finished slugs were prepared and subjected to the usual canning operation. In subsequent tests however, it was found that a large percentage of the canned slugs were badly defective. An investigation was requested to determine the differences in composition or structure of the X-C and normal metal which would account for the failure of the X-C slugs. Samples of the failed slugs and of metal from various stages of both the one-step and normal processes were supplied by Madison Square Area, for comparison on the basis of analyses, microstructure, or such other tests as seemed desirable.

A new G slit support utilizing the standard G carbon now in use in all Beta production buildings was tested over approximately four months in the Pilot Plant with very successful results. A considerable saving has been made both in servicing time and in costs. The equipment has proved to be the best of any tried from the standpoint of run terminations due to alignment difficulties.

This report details events of importance reported by the Hanford Operations Office for the week ending January 5, 1949.

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