Annual Report To AEC on Raleigh Research Reactor Project

Article III, Section 2 (Modification #6 to Contract No. AT-(40-1)-1032):

"This agreement and the loan may be extended from year to year there-
after if (a) the Contractor shall on or before April 1, 1954, and on or before
each April 1 thereafter, submit to the Commission such reports of the current year
and proposals for the ensuing year as may be required by the Commission with
respect to (1) the Contractor's financial plan for operation of the reactor faci-
lities, (2) technical competence of responsible personnel engaged in such opera-
tion, (3) the research and training program to be conducted with the loaned
fissionable materials and the reactor and (4) the Contractor's compliance with
the Commission's requirements as to health and safety, accountability, and secu-
rity of information; and (b) the Commission shall give its approval to extending
the term of this agreement and the loan. When the Contractor shall have made
timely submission of the above reports and proposals, this agreement and the loan
shall remain effective until 90 days after the Contractor is notified of the
Commission's disapproval with respect to extending the term, or until expiration
of the then current term, whichever is later.

In telephone conversation, information was transmitted to the Pro-
ject Director that the Commission's requirements in this section of the Contract
would be satisfied by brief statements on each of the items specified, plus the
data requested in Appendix "B", Section 1 of III B;

• "The following reports shall be provided the Commission:
•  
• 1. An annual report which includes:
• • a. Average power level by months.
  • b. Brief narrative summary, including results, of in-pile
    and beam hold experiments.
  • c. Accumulative release of activity in liquid and air
    waste by months.
  • d. Summary of meteorological and water monitoring results.
  • e. Statement of all personnel exposures three or more times
    greater than average maximum permissible dosage levels.
  • f. Average radiation level of reactor facilities by months."
• The information requested is submitted herewith.

Approved by:

J. H. Lampe, Dean School of Engineering	Clifford K. Beck, Head Nuclear Reactor Project
C. H. Bostian, Chancellor

1. The Contractor's Financial Plan for Operation of the Reactor Facilities

In basic concept, two general types of usages of the reactor facility,
and two primary sources of funds to support its operation, are visualized: a) the
reactor is to be operated by the Physics Department, in the School of Engineering,
as an integral part of the research and instructional programs of the department.
Financial support for this portion of reactor use has been in part, and eventually
will be entirely, provided from the College budget. In operations to date, a
generous grant from the Office of Ordnance Research has furnished a major portion
of the funds needed for this work.

Continued OOR support, to the extent of $16,000, has been assured for
1954-55. A budget request has been submitted to the College for the 1955-57
biennium, and approval is expected, for provision of sufficient minimum staff and
supplies for execution of routine operation in regular departmental programs.

b) The reactor will also be utilized to the fullest extent possible
in research projects of other departments of the College, of other institutions,
and industries in the area. Participating staff and reactor supplies required in
these operations, above what are provided by College funds for regular depart-
mental activities, must be furnished by the various projects in which they are
required. Sponsorship of three small projects, from which about $3,000 or $4,000
for reactor support will be provided during 1954-55, are already assured. Very
little effort has been expended in this direction, however. It is anticipated
that several other sponsored projects will materialize as staff efforts required
on the reactor itself decrease.

2. Technical Competence of Responsible Personnel

No changes in personnel responsible for direction of the Reactor Pro-
ject and few changes in participating personnel, from those who were engaged in
development of the Project, have been made.

Those presently participating in reactor operations (along with their
discharge of other duties) are:

Clifford Beck, Director	J. Thomas Lynn, Asst. Scientist
Raymond L. Murray, Deputy Director	E. J. Brown, Asst. Scientist
David O. Lintz, Reactor Safety Officer	Joe Lundholm, Reactor Supervisor
Arthur Menius, Jr., Scientist	Harold Lamonds, Instrumentation Supervisor
Arthur Waltner, Scientist
	Charles Terrell, Instrumentation Technician
	Clarence Turner, Machinist
	Dwight Pendergraft, Machinist

3. The Research and Training Program to be Conducted

• (a) Further calibration and adjustment of the reactor itself.
• • Most of the effort to date has been devoted to this, and until
    September, 1954, a full year from startup, considerable effort will continue in
    this direction. During April and May (1954), mechanical revision of components
    in the gas-recombiner system (replacement of the re-circulating pump), the gas
    disposal system (addition of more hold-up volume and automatic operation devices),
    the liquid level-sampling system (provision of an "always safe" emergency fuel
    storage vessel), and control rod (replacement of defective position-indicating
    heliopots) systems will be made. These changes, planned as a result of further
    study and operating experience, will permit subsequent reactor operation at full
    design power levels.
    Studies of reactor characteristics, now partially complete, will
    be continued: (1) Absolute and relative effectiveness of the various safety
    and control rods.
    (2) The temperature coefficients of the reactor.
    (3) Transcient responses to changes in k.
    (4) Geometrical and spectral distributions of radiations.
• (b) Training activities.
• • Advanced students will be given opportunity to participate in
    supervised operation of the reactor.
    A number of thesis research projects will involve use of the
    reactor.
    One instructional course, Elementary Reactor Theory, beginning
    in 1954-55 will have an associated laboratory period each week in which super-
    vised experiments in reactor behavior and operation will be performed. Two
    members of the staff (Beck, Murray) have started the assembly of a manual of
    procedures and instructions for these experiments.
• (c) Research and service activities in prospect
• • Projects definitely planned for activation in 1954-55.
    (1) A study of the porosity of ceramic layers at high tempera-
    tures to transit of fission products.
    (2) A study of the effects of radiation on wool and other
    textile fibers.
    (3) A study of the effects of radiation on ovary production in
    wasps.
    (4) A study of the gamma rays emitted from excited nuclei after
    neutron captures.
    (5) Development of activation analysis techniques for application
    to assorted problems.
    (6) Completion of a 40-channel time-of-flight analyser, a slow
    "neutron chopper" and a crystal spectrometer as major tools
    for use in basic solid state and nuclear physics studies.
    
• Preliminary experiments on some of those projects are already
  under way.

4. Compliance with Commission requirements on

• (a) Health and safety - all requirements met, so far as is known.
  No difficult problems of personnel protection or area monitoring have been
  encountered, since the reactor has not been operated at high levels. No acci-
  dents or above daily tolerance exposures have occurred.
• (b) Accountability - monthly reports have been supplied as stipulated.
  No losses have occurred.
• (c) Security of information - ratings of "good" have been reported
  after each F. B. I. and A. E. C. security inspection of the facility.

5. Items required in annual report outlined in Appendix "B", Section 1, of III B.

• (a) Average power level by months

• • September, 1954	- critical experiments
    October, 1954	- critical experiments
    November, 1954	- critical experiments
    December, 1954	- 1 watt
    January, 1955	- 2 watts
    February, 1955	- 2 watts
    March, 1955	- 2 watts, 5 watts maximum

• (b) Narrative summary of in-pile and beam hole experiments

• • Service irradiations:	KCl crystals	- flux not sufficient for color changes.
    	Textile fibers	- effect on mechanical characteristcs uncertain, flux too low.
    	Wasps - no results reported.

  • Numerous metal foil activations to determine neutron flux distri-
    bution: Incomplete.
  • Activation to produce [gamma] s for calibration of gamma ray measuring
    equipment.
• (c) Accumulative release of radioactivity in
• • (1) liquid - none
  • (2) air - 5 microcuries total
• (d) Summary of meteorological and water monitoring results:
• • 1. Two hundred fifty smoke signals (15 minutes each) have been
    released from the exhaust ventilation stack of the reactor build-
    ing under a wide variety of atmospheric conditions. Observations
    were made of the patterns of dispersal as affected by meterologi-
    cal variables. This first series of observations were completed
    at the end of March (1954), as a Master's thesis project. The
    data are now being correlated and analysed. When completed,
    copies of the results will be furnished the A. E. C.

• • 2. Three sets of water samples from the Raleigh watershed have
    shown no activity difference from that of controls. The methods
    used, however, have not been as sensitive as desired, hence,
    further work on this is in progress.
• (e) Statements of personnel exposure three or more times above per-
  missable dosage levels.
• • None. Two pocket meters and a film badge are worn by each
    operating or participating person. The film badges are developed
    and analysed by Brookhaven National Laboratory.
• (f) Average radiation level of facilities by months.
• • Background