NEWS
search groups, project teams, and a records staff. Research workers are encouraged to work with the analyst who is familiar with the instrument involved. In this way the research worker can gain an appreciation of instrumental methods without taking the time to become skilled in their use. Certain difficulties arise in providing this service. Each research worker, for example, may want results immediately. In some cases, research and development is needed to develop a method or adapt a method to do the required job. In other cases the overall demands of the research department have to be considered and each request considered within that framework. Every effort is made to consider special requests on their merits. The organization of analytical chemistry at AAEC Research Establishment is shown in the figure. The equipment used in these operations is also listed. The analytical chemistry group in the chemistry section is responsible for analytical research and service work for 10 sections with a total of 700 people including 150 graduates plus 450 in the operations division. They handle 800 samples (1500 analyses) a month with 29 people. Half of these are technically trained. The number of samples is increasing about 80% a year. Research and development work on new analytical methods takes up 30% of total time. A card system is used to keep track of requests and results of analyses. Punched report cards are used to record literature references. A panel of 10 abstractors from the graduate staff reviews 100 journals of analytical interest. These cards are collected monthly and coded by a selected member of the non-graduate staff. It has been found that this effort keeps the staff abreast of new developments in their field of atomic energy faster than can be done through library services and abstract journals. U. S.-British
Equipment
The equipment used is predominantly of British or U. S. manufacture. It is housed in 14 laboratories (7000 square feet). The work done relates to that resulting from research on hightemperature, gas-cooled reactor system development. This involves studies of such coolants as carbon dioxide and helium; moderators such as beryllia, beryllium, and graphite; reflectors such as beryllia and graphite ; intermetallic fuels such as U 233 -Th, U-Be l:! , Th-Be 13 in Be; oxide fuels such as UOo and T h 0 2 in BeO; and carbide fuels such as U 0 2 and ThO., in graph-
ite; and canning materials including beryllium, graphite, ceramics, and stainless steel. In addition to the wide range of chemical analyses involved in the materials mentioned, other projects include work on preparation, purification, fabrication, and studies of properties of beryllium metal, beryllia, and graphite. Fuel elements are also examined after irradiation in a 10 MW reactor. Dr. Smythe outlined some of the analytical chemistry studies currently under way. These include: polarography of the lanthanides, x-ray fluorescence for determination of Sr in acid solutions in the 0.01 to 1 mg./ml. range, the lead sulfate-EDTA method for low levels of Ra in effluent, fusion extraction gas analyses of irradiated fuel, radiometric titrations for Be using inactive phosphate and carrier-free Be 7 , metal-oxygen ratios in oxide fuel samples, and differential spectrophotometric methods for analysis of uranium in U-Th-Be 13 alloys. Another is determination of submicrogram amounts of Be in river and sea water, soils and rocks, and from environmental surveys. Others are: separation of traces of Sr 90 from environmental materials using ion-exchange, determination of stable Sr content of environmental materials by radioactive dilution using Sr1'0, microbiology of heavy water used in reactors. Other analytical research projects include development and construction of Be air monitor, Be filter paper smear monitor, and monitor for determination of deuterium and oxygen in helium, improved method for volumetric determination of lie, separation of Be on diallyl phosphate complexing resin, coprecipitation methods for Sr separation, and determination of traces of permanent gases by gas chromatography using molecular sieves. Proceedings. Proceedings of the Analytical Chemistry Conference will be published by the IT. S. Atomic Energy Commission. Plans for publishing the proceedings of the Nuclear Reactor Chemistry Conference have not been completed. Proceedings of previous conferences on analytical chemistry in nuclear reactor technology are available from the Office of Technical Services, Washington 25, D. C , referring to the document number. First Conference, TID7555, $3.50; Second Conference, T I D 7568 (Pt. 1), $3.00: TID-756S (Pt. 2), $2.50; TID-7568 (Pt. 3) $1.00. The proceedings of the Third Conference on Analytical Chemistry in Nuclear Reactor Technology have been published in "Talanta" bv Pergamon Press, (Vol. 6, 1960).
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Circle No. 26 on Readers' Service Card
VOL. 33, NO. 1, JANUARY 1961
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