The fuel surface temperatures and flow rate effects which might be produced by plugs in SRE fuel channels were investigated. It was found that plugs which locally insulate more than 20 to 30% of the surface of a fuel rod are dangerous. Heat transfer through the mcderator would not significantly affect the sensitivity of the outlet thermocouple to change in mass flow through a fuel channel, provided the reactor power is above 2 Mw and the channel is not completely plugged. If a 5% or greater increase in a fuel channel DELTA t is taken to indicate that a plug exists in the channel, about 80% of all possible plugs will be detected and roughly 95% of all dangerous plugs will be detected by this criterion. (C.J.G.).

NSA is a comprehensive collection of international nuclear science and technology literature for the period 1948 through 1976, pre-dating the prestigious INIS database, which began in 1970. NSA existed as a printed product (Volumes 1-33) initially, created by DOE's predecessor, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). NSA includes citations to scientific and technical reports from the AEC, the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration and its contractors, plus other agencies and international organizations, universities, and industrial and research organizations. References to books, conference proceedings, papers, patents, dissertations, engineering drawings, and journal articles from worldwide sources are also included. Abstracts and full text are provided if available.

This study was undertaken for the USAEC under Contract AT(04-3)-189, Project Agreement No. 6, to investigate desirable features of a sodium cooled, graphite moderated uranium fueled power reactor using the modular concept, and, based on this investigation, evaluate the economic potential of this reactor type.