MATERIALS TESTING REACTOR-ENGINEERING TEST REACTOR TECHNICAL BRANCHES. Quarterly Report No. 3, July 1-September 30, 1963

Technical Report · Sat Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 1964

OSTI ID:4075640

8 6 < platelets containing U/sub 3/O/sub 8/, UO/sub 2/, or UAl/sub 3/ in aluminum matrices were irradiated in the ETR at inltial surface temperatures of 180 deg C to burnups of 1 x 10/sup 21/ fiss/ cm/sup 3/. The high fuel loadings (approximately 35 wt% U/sup 235/) in UO/sub 2/ and U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ blistered under these conditions; the UAl/sub samples were still in good condition at the end of the test. Electrolyzed coatings on aluminum deteriorated badly under exposures of 3 to 5 x 10/sup 20/ n/cm/sup 2/ (>1Mev) in the ETR process water. The ARMF-1 regulating rod was repaired and digital regulating rod position readout instrumentation installed during an extended shutdown after more than two years of operation. Fission product transient curves extrapolated to about the same zero time reactivity value with initial data varying from 30 minutes to 6 hours. This limited considerably the probability that short-lived high cross section fission products exist. Under present ETR operating conditions the maximum decrease in effectiveness of a nickel absorber section as a result of burnup would be less than 20% in 20 years. Thus, burnup appears not to be a factor which limits its useful life. The preliminary analysis and flow charts for the Phillips General Purpose Monte Carlo Program for the IBM 7040 are nearing completion. Two reactor simulation devices were put into service in the Analog Computer Facility, a reactor kinetics simulator and seven transport lag simulation channels. Preliminary design of a Xe-135 simulator was completed. The fission cross section of Pu/sup 241/ was measured from 2 to 100 ev. Resolution of the linear electron accelerator used was sufficient to permit multilevel analysis of the neutron levels below 36 ev. Transmission measurements were obtained on a separated Pa/sup 233/ sample containing approximately 10 mg of Pa/sup 2/O/sub 5/. The energies of these resonances observed with the unseparated sample with their relative sizes are presented. Several experiments were conducted to determine the useful lifetime of solid state detectors under in- pile conditions of fission fragment bombardment. A single detector, using an external U/sup 235/ fission source was irradiated to approximately 3 x 10/sup 9/ total fission, at which point the fission fragment peaks were still well resolved and the signal pulses were sufficientiy large compared to noise level so that the latter could be effectively biased out. Averaged reduced partial differential scatiering cross sections for a powder Be sample were obtained. A Data Processing System for transient data was developed for use in the SPERT reactor complex. Data are recorded on an FM tape system and applied to a magnetic memory for temporary storage and from there to one or more of several readout devices. An Eight-Input Adapter and an Initial Delay Counter were developed to increase the utility of an existing time-of-flight analyzer. A Personnel Monitor ( Frisker'') is described, which approaches closely an ideal monitor for use with widely varying radiation backgrounds. Current feedback around an operational amplifier is used to provide a current source used to drive oscillograph galvanometers thereby extending the range of linear operation of the galvanometers. The work of placing a large telemetered radiological survey system in operation is described along with the description of a remote station simulator. Dynamic pressure tests of several commercial transducers are described together with the criteria established for suitability for their use in reactor transient studies. Rod drop deceleration times were measured on an ETR control rod; the test instrumentation is described. The 7090 version of PDQ-4 (20,000 mesh points) was converted and modified for operation on the 7040. The following reactor codes are also now in operation on the 7040: TEMPEST-II, GAM, FOG, ZUT, MIST, ULCER, and TOPIC. Being de-bugged are HEAT-I and IREKIN. In addition, the following programs for the 7040 were written and placed in operation: matrix inversion, ordinary differential equations, double precision arithmetic, linear least

• Research Organization: Phillips Petroleum Co. Atomic Energy Div., Idaho Falls, Idaho
• DOE Contract Number: AT(10-1)-205
• NSA Number: NSA-18-015673
• OSTI ID: 4075640
• Report Number(s): IDO-16923
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-64
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ABSORPTION
ALUMINUM
ALUMINUM ALLOYS
AMPLIFIERS
ANALOG SYSTEMS
ARMF-1
BACKGROUND
BERYLLIUM
BURNUP
CIRCUITS
COATING
COMPUTERS
CONTROL
CONTROL ELEMENTS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
COUNTERS
CRITICAL ASSEMBLIES
CROSS SECTIONS
CRYSTAL COUNTERS
CURRENTS
DIAGRAMS
DIES
DIGITAL SYSTEMS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC METERS
ELECTROLYSIS
ELECTRONS
ENERGY
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY RANGE
ETR
EV RANGE
FAILURES
FEEDBACK
FISSION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUELS
GALVANOMETERS
IBM 650
IBM 7040
INSTRUMENTS
INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
IRRADIATION
LINEAR ACCELERATORS
MAINTENANCE
MEASURED VALUES
MONITORING
MONTE CARLO METHOD
MOTION
NEUTRON SPECTROMETERS
NEU