Eee REACTOR DEVELOPMENT 4 UNCLASSIFIED “AER oe i> o> 4 3h) e Eas ay Oe Vealee Ave, ve cee . nas vad. Reactor Materials Research and development work on materials for Improved control rods is to be undertaken by the General Electric Company. The proposal of General Electric was one of 22 responses to an invitation issued by the AEC in March. Efforts are continuing on the development of aluminum alloys which can be used at higher temperatures in pressurized and boiling water reactors. The Aluminum Company of America agreed to continue participation in the work with the Argonne National Laboratory and Savannah River. Reactor Safety In a test on April 14 the Kinetic Experiment on Water Boilers (KEWB) increased its power level from zero to 530,000 thermal kilowatts and shut itself off without sustaining any damage. The rate of power increase was the largest known to have been experienced safely by a reactor, and amounted to tripling the power every two-thousandth of a second. The special test demonstrated the inherentability of an aqueous homogeneous reactor to shut itself down under abnormal operating conditions without requiring auxiliary control rods. A series of tests was performed with the Special Power Excursion Reactor Test No. 1 (SPERT-I) on a self-contained, self-actuated safety device for pool-type research reactors. The device is a fuse, consisting of a cylinder containing boron trifluoride gas which is automatically released into the reactor when abnormal operating conditions occur. The gas absorbs the neutrons and brings the reactor under control almost immediately. The fuse prevented the reactor power from rising excessively during a severe transient in which the rate of power was tripling each one-hundredth of a second, Without the fuse the power level would have risen to 25 times the level at which the surge was terminated by the fuse. Chemical Processing Development - Volatility processing. Processing of fused salt fuel from the Aircraft Reactor Experiment was completed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This was the first processing on a significant scale of irradiated fuel using the ORNL adsorption-desorption volatility purification technique. Product recovery was excellent, and no activity in excess of natural background could be detected in the recovered uranium. Waste Disposal Salt cavities. As part of the project of investigating the use of salt cavities for the disposal of radioactive wastes, drilling tests were conducted at the Hutchinson Naval Air Station, Hutchinson, Kansas. Drilling was completed to a depth of 722 feet, and through a 300-foot thick salt stratum. Other sites were being examined, including salt outcrop areas in the Middle West. Deep wells. The American Petroleum Institute appointed a committee to assist the AEC in evaluating the engineering practicality of injecting high-level wastes into deep porous formations. The committee visited the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Hanfordto hold discussion on various aspects of the problem. Technical Assistance and Training DCE ARCHIVES The fourth of a series of financial grants to educational institutions was announced in June. These grants provided $1.9 million to 41 colleges and universities to enable them to purchase nuclear laboratory equipment for use in physical sciences and engineering. Included in the