REACTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM PROGRESS REPORT, JULY 1963

Abstract

of the prediction theory was tested with laboratory columns and with a field investigation. The field test involved several arrays of injections and relief wells and twenty-three observation wells penetrating a confined aquifer 100 ft below the earth's surface. The results demonstrated the theoretical validity and practical utility of the theory. (auth) H03 H0237001 Boiling Water Reactors. Zero-power experiments were carried out on the central superheater core CSH-1 of BORAX V. The chemistry of the reactor cooling water was followed. The maintenance and development involved in BORAX V are described. Liquid-Metal-Cooled Reactors. Central reactivity coefficient and Doppler coefficient measurements are reported for a 4000-liter core in Assembly 43 of ZPR- III. Development of fast reactor fuels is described. The operation of EBR-1, Mark IV and EBR-II is described. The fuel cycle facility and process development of EBR-II are also considered. The design studies and other development work on FARET are discussed. General Reactor Technology. Nuclear physics studies which were made included Doppler effect calculations, numerical integration of differential equations, and development of a solid-state fast neutron spectrometer. Corrosion studies on reactor materiais are described. The development of ceramic and particulate metal fuel elements is discussed, and the irradiation and extrusion studies are described. Among the chemical studies carried out were the formation of Tc/sub 2/ Zn/sub 11/in Tc-- Zn, dissolution of U in flowing liquid Cd, thermal decomposition of UO/sub 2/Cl/sub 2/ in molten LiCi--KCl, solubility of U in Cd--Mg--Zn alloys, fluidization and volatility separation processes, preparation of UC and US, analysis of PuF/sub 6/, solubility of Ar in Na, etc. In the Plutonium Recycle Program, the cross-section correction factors for the Pu region and the building of Sm/sup 149/ in the reactor zones are discussed. Advanced Systems Research and Development. The operation of a thermionic flim-boiling liquid-metal diode with cesium is described. The design of a nuclear magnetohydrodynamic system (fast reactor coupled with liquid-sodium MHD generator) was analyzed, and the system characteristics are tabulated. Nuclear Safety. Oxidation studies were carried out on Pu and Pu--2 at.% Al alloy. The Al--U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ thermite reaction and the vapor-phase burning of Al in water were studied. In-pile oxidation studies in air were made on one sample of U and one sample of a U-Fs alloy. (D.L.C.)