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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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REFER TO EIDM A& FIELD PROGAWSS FEPORT Projeot Designation Univ. of Calif, 4 Period Ending 30 September 1946 The following new employees entered on duty during the month Sec. & In tell, Invest., 4 September 1946 .F. msa lind Wynne
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Contractor : ! b e mgents of the University o f California Date of Contract: 1 May 1943 t o 30 ~ u n e13k7 Approximate Expense for September 1946 broken down by Approximate expense t o 30 September 1?&: $17,488,861 Estimated Cost to 30 June 19472 22,5350800 1. Laboratory Work - Project 48 Work has continued inthe Pnysics Laboratories a t Berkeley on t h e separation of isotopes and on designs, experimental studies, and construction work i n connection with the 184-inch cyclotron, the spc hro - tron and the linear accelerator. (14 h p l e s have been prepared of the isotopes Snl15, M094, on the separation of isotopes of. Li and Hg. i s scheduled for completion on 15 November 1946. ment aril1 begin operations again about January 1947. The moving of t h e XC Magnet began on 25 September and The in s tru -
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good agreement has been obtained with predictions. radial magnetic gradient is quite satisfactory. aemuthal variations have not y e t been measured. Measurements have been conpleted on t h e magnet and geometerical median plane due t o inaccuracies i n the early assembly of the magnet which have resulted in2gless iron inthe upper pole piece than inthe lower one. A n attempt will be made to correct the difficulty by varying the number o f ampere turns in t h e upper and lower coils. Consideration is being given to the installation of an addit ional 250 KN generator which i s available. The magnetic median plane does not coincide with the The tank linings are essentially complete. of oscillator equipment on the truck i s underway, equip nt such as the ion source and the probe tc., are nearing conpletion. The assembly ofthe eotary condenser is well somewhere inthe last two weeks i n October. The dee has been mounted and aligned satisfactorily. Initial testing of the instrument i s now scheduled for that equipment will be i n readyness for deflecting the beam. by the first of next year. Design has begun on the deflector system, It is hoped (6) Preparations are being made to study shielding requirements by studying absorption i n various materials, especially concrete, Subject t o these experiments, plans now call for surrounding the instrument with ca five-foot wall of concrete blocks witha two-foot roof, for the initial testing of the instrument. Shielding will not be ready All effort on the linear accelerator during the month was expended in assembling the forty-foot vacuum tank and i n readying it f o r vacuum testing. TRfll probably be ready for operation i n December. The Van de Graaff machine The synchrotron building is approximately 60%complete. Magnet sections are being stamped and assembly i s scheduled t o begin about 26 October. The first slab is due t o be shipped on 15 November.
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(1) The 6.4 day Bismuth activity has been definite1 estabbeen identified, Po208 is of particular interest because of its long half life of greater than four years. state i n solution inO.IN IQ804 for several hours and its absorption spectrum has been measured. It has been found possible t o keep Am inits oxidized (3) 0metal has been produced on a submiligram soale. O f particular interest is its low density, about one half that of the adjoining eleruents. density of Eu inthe rare earth series. i n the Np fraction resulting from the bombardment of $33 This i s analogous to the law An attempt has been made t o produoe Pa metal but with A new two totwo and one-half/activity has been found This may be N$32. a, !he Metabolic Studies of Plutonium and Allied Materials and Operations Crossroads Activity (1) The radioautographic studies of both fission products and fissionable elements a r e continuing. studies have been completed, however, it is felt desirable t o repeat certain individual experinients in the interest of group of animal tissues from the americium tracer studies i s nowunder way, using a fluoride method t o separate this elenent from the large mass of tissue ashed material, which is directed towards possible procedures f o r removal of fission products and plutonium following their inhalation and deposition inthe lungs. of rats with cycteine-hydrochloride appears t o reduce the uptake in bone of injected plutonium by factors ranging from three t o seven fold. This promising lead i s being pursued further as a possible method of treatment of individuals who have become accidentally exposed t o plutonium by the intro - duction of this material into the body through a cut o r The arsenic tracer The laborious task of assaying a large Work is initiated It has been found that pre-treatment
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(2) The activity for the section of Crossroads work has maintained a continued high level and it appears that contaminated evaporators and saltwater lines can be adequately decontaminated by passing either1N hydrochloric acid or8 15%solution of moni um citrate through these systems. preliminary tests, it would appear that if the ammonium citrate solution i s allowed t o remain within contamimted pipes for 72 hours, more than 9%of the fission products and plutonium activities will dissolve off from the pipes and can be flushed out of the system. be best removed by sand blasting, using stem being made for the organization of a Navy laboratory t o assist in the develop ent of more efficient methods o f decontamination of ships as well as t o insure that no possibility of health hazards ef iet s for the various operations neceseary on these Activity on paint of hulls has been found t o Plans are now a. Fluordiketon solvent extraction process Efforts have been made t o settle on a flowsheet t o insure(1) meeting the requirement of adequate plutonium recovery inthe three cycle process. has been investigated. A flowsheet using benzene and another using toluene were calculated and tested. oovery i n the case of toluene was 98,5%and inthe case of process with both benzene and toluene and these figures should be reproducible within a few tenths of a percent, The use of toluene i n place of benzene These figures are based upon eight tests of the. (2) men toluene is substituted for benzene, about 20$more TUis required due toa lower extraction coefficient for Pu (IV). The separation coefficient of Fu (111) t o Pu (Iv) i s somewhat less inthe toluene system than inthe bencene system and this m y indicate that a different decontamination may be expected. The distribution of TTA is essentially the same between dilute nitric acid and benzene as between dilute nitric acid and toluene. been measured under conditions *ere the r a t e of chelation. of Fu (IV) i s known. It was found that the Zirconium chelate was extracted at about one tenth the rate of the PU (IV) chelate. This opens the poe sibi lit y of separations based on rates of chelation as well as on equilibrium conditions, It may well be that knowing more exact r a t e data it would be possible t o inorease the decontamination obtained inthe chelation process by accurately controlling the time of mixing of the two phases so as to just get to the plutonium equilibrium and still ' b e relat iv ely far from the equilibrium extraction level of fission products which behave like Zirconium, The rate of chelation of zirconium by TTA i n benzene has
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b. High Temperature Work been definitely established a s CUT c l ~ . The gaseous species of cuprous chloride a t 700°C has duction appears t o have been worked out satisfactorily. vapor pressure apparatus has been tested at 2500OC. Preliminary runs with ordinary carbon are being conducted t o determine the order of magnitude of the vapor pressure and t o determine the proper dilution of radioactive carbon it0 be The preparation of graphite from C Q by magnesium rea. Radioactive Iodine Work (1) In September, 25 milicuries of radioactive iodine w e r e received. This was administered t o eleven patients and the uptake and retention in t h e thyroid and the urinary excretion were measured. All of the patients were measured fora two day period and measurenents on some were continued a t later intervals. Most of the time was spent in andy zing the differences obtained with different geometrical arrangeEents of the apparatus and patients. Dr. Miller, who isin charge of this program spent considerable time correlating t h e data (1) A total of 70 blood counts were done on ten patients, Sternal marrow studies were done on two patients and sedimentation rates were run on four patients. Prothrombin time studies were done on four patients and cho lester al studies were done on two. Two patients were under daily total body a, The approximate percent completion o f the various volumes for the Technical Series isas follows:
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Volumes V and V ff are practically complete in their final form and steps have begun t o process them through the de classification pcocedure . completed and construction of the walls is beginning. The foundation for the Chemistry Annex Building has been The building is Lt. Col., Corps of Ek in e ers,