ORNL
Electro-
There was discussion of the electronuclear program at OKNL; some
nuclear Committee members expressed doubts about the desirability of carrying on
Program
this program, particularly in view of the MIA project. Dr. Weinberg and
Dr. Larson made the points that the real basis for the 86" cyclotron was
the problem of polonium production, that plans for this machine antedated
the Mark I MTA, that, historically, the Y~l2 know-how and interests in high
current techniques had favored this program, and that one merit of the program would be in keeping together an able group intcrested in this field.
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It was stated that the geographic and industrial character of ORNL
leads to exceptional flexibility for large scale heavy development, particularly heavy chemical development; Dr. Weinberg acknowledged especially
the dependence of the reactor programs on the large chemical staff.
It
was later brought out that of the two main reactor programs, the HERE draws
most heavily on the chemical steff, the ARE on metallurgy, and there was
as yet no serious interference between them because of the size of the
chemical staff.
The basic research programs in physics ana chemistry at OHNL differ in
that the former is determined by the facilities available and the interests
of the psople, the latter, in large part, by various development needs,
ORNL
Dr. Swartout commented on the importnrnce of chemical separations problems,
Chemistry,
Separa— and discussed the solvent extraction program at ORNL, which he characterized
tions
as the broadest of those being carried out in AEC laboratories. He mentioned the contributions of the. Laboratory in developing the TBP process
for recovery of Hanford uranium, the Redox process for plutonium separation,
the Purex process for the Savannah River installation, and the 25 recovery
process for Arco.
He felt that solvent extraction processes have out-
stripped othér separations methods and that pre- and post-solvent extraction
i
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