QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 16, 1953-FEBRUARY 15, 1954

Technical Report · Fri Oct 31 00:00:00 EST 1958

OSTI ID:4351652

The theoretical work on liquid metal fuel reactors has been continued along the lines discussed in the last report, with emphasis on the development of improved methods for the calculation of core size and breeding gain as functions of fuel concentration. The study of the kinetics of LMFR systems has been continued. A 10 weight% Th--Bi slurry has been made and is fluid. The composition of the settled slurry is 14% Th, this represents an upper limit for fluid slurries. A temperature-cycled (350--600 deg C) 5% Th slurry shows a growth of particles from 15 to 30 mu in 100 hr. The special chrome-vanadium alloys stand up well in static corrosion tests in Bi and U--Br. None of the nine loops which are in operation have plugged this quarter. One 1/2 in. IBS loop, gradient 60 deg C, containing U, Mg, and Zr, has been in operation for 1650 hr without any indication of a plug forming. As a result of an intensified effort on the chemistry of the fuel process the oxidation-reduction behavior of fused- salt/liquid-metal systems is better understood. The object is to find a fused- salt/liquid-metal system which will transfer most of the rare-earth fission products to the salt phase at the same time that it holds essentially all the U in the metal. A prolonged experiment showed that Mg when added 10 the metal phase in the U-- Bi/ fused-salt system prevents transfer of the U to the salt phase. Apparently Mg, rather than U, is oxidized and transfers to the salt phase. The so-called torch process'' for extracting Pa and U is described. Two tracer runs made during the quarter showed that it is possible 10 extract the major portion of the Pa from ThF/sub 4/ powder in a single pass through the flame. At present, efforts are devoted to: (a) producing a flame powder of narrower particle-size range, (b) determining optimum flame temperature, (c) improving Pa recovery efficiency, and (d) improving torch design. Experiments on water- moderated, slightly enriched U lattices and the interpretation of these experiments are given. Measurements of buckling, migration area, fast fission factor, and thermal utilization have been ccntinued. A method has been devised for measuring the critical buckling of lattices of different fuel elements (those containing Th of Pu, for example) by determining the critical size of a two- region assembly which has the new fuel in a small central region. Samples of graphite cored from the BNL reactor after the pile annealing experiment showed no stored energy in the 260 deg C region. The per cent recovery in physical dimensions and in c-axis for irradiated graphite annealed at 26O deg C were almost identical. A horizontal continuous calciner is being built to study the processing of fission products. In this cornection it has been found that sodium nitrate cam be used as a fluxing agent with dried waste solids concentrating the fission product in the melt. (auth)

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, N.Y.
• DOE Contract Number: AT-30-2-GEN-16
• NSA Number: NSA-12-002057
• OSTI ID: 4351652
• Report Number(s): BNL-285
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Decl. Apr. 8, 1957. Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-58
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

PHYSICS
ANNEALING
BISMUTH
BREEDING
BUCKLING
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CONFIGURATION
CORROSION
CRITICALITY
DEFORMATION
FAST FISSION FACTOR
FISSION PRODUCTS
FLUIDS
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL SLURRIES
FUELS
FUSED SALTS
GRAPHITE
IN PILE LOOPS
IRRADIATION
LIFETIME
LIQUID METAL FUEL
LIQUID METALS
LMFR
MAGNESIUM
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURED VALUES
MELTING
OXIDATION
PLUTONIUM
PROTACTINIUM
RADIOCHEMISTRY
RARE EARTHS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTORS
REDUCTION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SLOWDOWN
SODIUM NITRATES
TEMPERATURE
THERMAL UTILIZATION
THORIUM
THORIUM FLUORIDES
URANIUM
VANADIUM ALLOYS
WASTE PROCESSING
WATER MODERATOR
ZIRCONIUM
ZONES