Richland five-year O2 R and D Program: Target space enhancement

This document contains the reports of progress and the plans for future work of Douglas United Nuclear, Inc., on the Target Space Enhancement Mission. The DUN research and development program is based on a long-range operating plan which recognizes a continuing need for the production of special nuclear materials in AEC facilities. Among these expected needs are increased requirements for non-defense plutonium, tritium, and other isotopes. The purpose of the target space enhancement mission is to establish an improved irradiation capability in the Hanford reactors to respond to these needs. Programs are included to reduce the unit costs of non-defense plutonium, to develop the use of Oralloy to meet future enrichment requirements, and to increase the flexibility of the reactors to produce isotopes such as plutonium-238 and uranium-233. The paper describes the scope and objectives; incentives for the study; progress during this report period; evaluation of efforts; budget period plans; and program schedules. Four studies are being undertaken: channel enlargement; highly enriched fuel use; high power density fuel; and advanced technology which includes reactor kinetics, instrumentation, and control systems improvements and transient analysis