This is a personal letter to Kenneth Davis, AEC, concerning ORNL reactor activities. Topics covered include: HRP status; the gas-cooled system; molten fluorides; the ANP project; and maritime work.

Argonne National Lab. Annealing experiments of highpurity C --U alloys in the gamma region in an Ar atmosphere show that the metal is subject to decarbinization. Fourteen binary U--Pd alloys were prepared and examined. Pd solubility in gamma U is less than 1 wt.% at 890 deg C. Seventeen binary alloys of U-Ru were prepared and examined in the as-cast condition. The corrosion resistance after irradiation of U--Si alloys was tested. Homogeneous U- -Ta alloys have not been obtained. Th-rich U alloys were found to be more stable under irradiation than the best U alloys. The effect of heat treatment on microstructure is being studied as part of the effort to understand the effect of alloying on corrosion resistance in Ti--U alloys. Crystal and corrosion studies on U--Zr alloys are reported. Armour Research Foundation. Small ternary additions were found to greatly affect the transformation characteristics of U-- Nb alloys, and a hardness change was noted for this alloy. Preliminary data for U--Nb--Zr alloy demonstrated a relationship between the strained matrix and the physical properties of the alloy. Battelle Memorial Institute. Phase relationships between the intermediate delta phases of the U--Mo and U--Ti systems were conducted. U--Zr, U--Mo, and U--Nb alloys …