REACTOR DEVELOPMENT 100,000 pounds to 37,500 pounds. One-third of the 75,000 pounds delivered annually will be provided for Department of Defense usage, At the end of September negotiations were under way on the settlementof claims under these contracts resulting from the partial terminations, (End of QE. section.) Reactor Safety (UNCLASSIFIED) An experimental technique for obtaining stress-strain curves of porous material like wood — and celotex under very rapid loading was developed by Armour Research Foundation under contract with the AEC. The high strength exhibited by these porous materials makes them potentially suitable for blast (energy absorption) shields in reactor containment design, Waste Disposal and Treatment Excavation was begun in Septemberfor the waste calcination facility at the National Reactor Testing Station by Fluor Corporation, Ltd. The facility 1s designed to reduce high-level liquid wastes to solids which are safer and more easily stored. This process does not prevent the later recovery of isotopes to meet the growing needs arising from new industrial applications. Laboratory and pilot plant models have indicated that the calcining process will reduce the volume of liquid wastes to about one-seventh of its present bulk, The new facility, capable of handling 1 gaYlon of waste per minute, will provide experience for full-scale plants. A theoretical study of the effects of more than 10 years of disposing radioactive wastes in a single area in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Francisco was undertaken by the Committee on Oceanography of the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the AEC. A survey was begun on the wastes from uranium mills, and on the effects of these wastes on the environment. The survey is to be a cooperative effort involving the AEC, the U. 8. Public Health Service, the individual states, and the uranium mills, Direct Generation of Electricity Electricity was generated directly from fission in an experiment conducted in the CP-5 reactor at Argonne National Laboratory. The process does not depend upon the use of heat energy to drive a turbogenerator as in the usual steam cycle. The process was believed theo- i retically possible but had never been demonstrated. Potentials up to 65,000 volts were obtained when = cell 3 feet long, containing fissionable material, was placed in a flux of reactor . neutrons. Fission products formed in the cell produced the electricity. i TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING 3 Training of Power Reactor Supervisors and Operators i 4 : At the request of the AEC, the Duquesne Light Company was preparing a proposal for an AEC-sponscored training course in reactor operation and supervision at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, for American and foreign personnel. American compenies engeged in power reactor development have shown an active interest in obtaining such training. In addi- tion, foreign nations have requested permission to assign personnel to the Shippingport Atomic Power Station for operational training. If such a course is offered, tuition charges will be established. This course would be in addition to the reactor supervisors course to be given at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. DOE ARCHIVES § Deeper. meant Gr oe . ate LictereT™ Cneew. 4: Lf sos: