Recent tentative production forecasts indicate that as much as 96.6 Kg plutonium, associated with 190 tons uranium, may be produced each month. The ability of the Separations facilities to process these materials is herein summarized. The Redox Production Plant capacity has been reasonably predicted at about 112 tons uranium per month; this rate assumes only that critical mass control is achieved by the limitation of the possible volume accumulation at any point, and that the product concentration step has been modified to permit the greater capacity. At 600 MWD/T (522 g/t) then, the 112 tons uranium per month capacity limits the plutonium output of the plant to 58.5 Kg per month at 80% operating efficiency. The remaining 38 Kg plutonium per month may be processed in the B and T BiPO{sub 4} plants at an operating efficiency of 89.5%; if this operating efficiency cannot be realized, the postulated production rate may be met by either an increased Redox efficiency or by accepting an increased plutonium waste loss of 1% on some portion of the BiPO{sub 4} production.

This report discusses the feasibility of designing and building two 100 Areas at the Coyote Rapids site on the Columbia River. It incorporates the individual studies prepared by the Power and Mechanical Division-HDC-2241, Reactor Division-HDC-2239, Project Engineering Division-HDC-2244, Principal Engineer and HDC-2242, and the Engineering and Construction Services Division-HDC-2243, each outlining the proposed course of action and requirements for that facet of the contemplated work in which they are primarily interested.

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This document describes the scope of the C-431-B Reactor Production Facility. In dealing with the broad phases of the project, it includes the Sections ``A`` (Scope Modifications) of the approved Design Criteria, modified to ensure correctness to date. Location of the facility has been set as shown on the site map in HDC-2101, designated site number one. Included in Project C-431-B are the 105-C Building, including within that building facilities previously located in the 1608 Building, a contaminated effluent crib adjacent to 105-C, and gas facilities using the 115-B Building interconnected with 105-C. Also included are an oil shed, a thimble storage cave, a badge house, and an exclusion fence. Building services and process lines will be considered part of the project to a location nominally five feet outside of 105-C.

This is a progress report of the production reactors on the Hanford Reservation for the month of May 1951. This report takes each division (e.g., manufacturing, medical, accounting, occupational safety, security, reactor operations, etc.) of the site and summarizes its accomplishments and employee relations for that month.

Acenaphtheno is a low-melting organic compound, C{sub 10}H{sub 6}(CH{sub 2}){sub 2}, used as a temperature indicating coating for slugs tested in the Frost Test induction coil. In preparation for this test, slugs are coated by spraying a 12 to 24 per cent by weight solution of acenaphthene in a high vapor pressure solvent on the rotating slug. The solvent evaporate leaving a thin, adherent coating of acenaphthene. This process is completely described in reference 1. To be entirely satisfactory for this use, a solvent must satisfy four requirements. High vapor pressure -- rapid evaporation. Non-flammability. Low toxicity. Carbon tetrachloride, the solvent used at percent, is operationally satisfactory but undersirable because of its toxicity. The purpose of this test is to investigate the suitability of various solvents as substituted for carbon tetrachloride.

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The vapor pressure of bromine trifluoride has been measured over the range 39 to 155 C. and the following equation was derived by methods of least squares to represent the experimental data. log{sub 10}P{sub mm} = 7.74853 - l685.8/(t + 220.57). The heat of vaporization was estimated from the following equation which is based upon the Clausius-Clapeyron relation. {Delta}H{sub cal/mole} = 7714 [(t + 273.16)/(t + 220.57)]{sup 2}. In continuation of the program to measure the physical properties of interhalogens, the vapor pressure of bromine trifluoride has been determined. Ruff and Braida (4) measured some of the physical and chemical properties including the vapor pressure over a limited range, 4 to 136 mm. The present investigation extends the vapor pressure data to 2 l/2 atmospheres on material of high purity.

It seems hardly necessary to repeat to an audience of this kind the importance of the process known as photosynthesis in the interaction and the interdependence of organisms and in the very existence of life as we know it. This process by which green plants are able to capture electromagnetic energy in the form of sunlight and transform it into stored chemical energy in the form of a wide variety of reduced (relative to carbon dioxide) carbon compounds provides the only major source of energy for the maintenance and propagation of all life.

Slag and crucible can be dissolved satisfactorily by the Los Alamos method of total dissolution with nitric acid in the presence of aluminum nitrate. Extraction of 99% of the plutonium from total dissolution salted with aluminum nitrate was achieved by three successive contactings with 1/10 volumes of 30% TBp- AMSCO 125-90W. The TBPAMSCO phases contacted with leaching solutions salted with calcium nitrate must be scrubbed to remove calcium. Stripping with three 1/10 volumes of 0.1M hydroxylamine sulfate removes 99% of the plutonium from the 30% TBPAMSCO, initially O.lM HNO/sub 3/. Plutonium(III) oxalate, (which could be blended into 234-5 operations) can be precipitated from the aqueous strip solution. It is chemically feasible to recycle slag and crucible solution to the Redox IIA column in amounts up to at least lO% of IIAF by volume. It is also chemically feasible to recycle nitric acid solution of slag crucible obtained in the presence of aluminum nitrate to the Product Precipitation step of the Second Decontamination Cycle of the Bismuth Phosphate Process. (auth)

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The colybdenum-uranium equilibrium diagram has been studied, and the results are presented up to 50 atomic per cent molybdenum. Additions of molybdenum raise the melting point of uranium, forming a peritectic at about 1285 C. The solubility of molybdenum in gamma uranium is extensive. It decreases from 42 atomic per cent at the peritect temperature to 30 per cent at lower temperatures. Allots of about 28 to 30 per cent molybdenum content have been found to contain a metastable gamma. It can be transformed by cold work and prolonged annealing at temperatures below 575 to 600 C. X-ray diffraction studies of the transition product in epsilon phase indicate tht it has a tetragonal structure. The beta-uranium region is lowered by molybdenum additions to produce a eutectoid transformation at 658 ± 5 C. The maximum beta solubility is about 1.0 atomic per cent molybdenum. The alpha-uranium solubility is less than in the beta region, or about 0.5 per cent molybdenum at 600 C.

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