Patents Represented by Attorney C. Clay Carter
  • Patent number: 4432945
    Abstract: An improvement in effecting uranium recovery from phosphoric acid solutions is provided by sparging dissolved oxygen contained in solutions and solvents used in a reductive stripping stage with an effective volume of a nonoxidizing gas before the introduction of the solutions and solvents into the stage. Effective volumes of nonoxidizing gases, selected from the group consisting of argon, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, helium, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, and mixtures thereof, displace oxygen from the solutions and solvents thereby reduce deleterious effects of oxygen such as excessive consumption of elemental or ferrous and accumulation of complex iron phosphates or cruds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 21, 1984
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Department of Energy
    Inventors: Fred J. Hurst, Gilbert M. Brown, Franz A. Posey
  • Patent number: 4410371
    Abstract: Ductile long range ordered alloys having high critical ordering temperatures exist in the (V,M)(Fe,Ni,Co).sub.3 system having the composition comprising by weight 20.6%-22.6% V, 14-50% Fe, 0-64% Co, and 0-40% Ni, and 0.4-1.4% M, where M is a metal selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf, and their mixtures. These modified alloys have an electron density no greater than 8.00 and exhibit marked increases at elevated temperature in ductility and other mechanical properties over previously known ordered alloys.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1981
    Date of Patent: October 18, 1983
    Inventors: Chain T. Liu, Henry Inouye, Anthony C. Schaffhauser
  • Patent number: 4398967
    Abstract: Structural components of nickel-containing alloys within molten alkali metal systems are protected against corrosion during the course of service by dissolving therein sufficient aluminum, silicon, or manganese to cause the formation and maintenance of a corrosion-resistant intermetallic reaction layer created by the interaction of the molten metal, selected metal, and alloy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 1980
    Date of Patent: August 16, 1983
    Inventors: Jackson H. DeVan, James E. Selle
  • Patent number: 4397778
    Abstract: Method for direct coprocessing of nuclear fuels derived from a product stream of a fuels reprocessing facility containing uranium, plutonium, and fission product values comprising nitrate stabilization of said stream vacuum concentration to remove water and nitrates, neutralization to form an acid deficient feed solution for the internal gelation mode of sol-gel technology, green spherule formation, recovery and treatment for loading into a fuel element by vibra packed or pellet formation technologies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 9, 1983
    Inventor: Milton H. Lloyd
  • Patent number: 4397963
    Abstract: Cermet insulators resistant to thermal and mechanical shock are prepared from alumina-chromium systems by providing an Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 material of about 0.5 to 7.0 micron size with a solid-hydrocarbon overcoating by slurring an effective amount of said solid hydrocarbon in a solvent mixture containing said Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and thereafter evaporating said solvent, contacting said coated Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 with a solution of chromium precursor compound, heating the resulting mixture in a reducing environment to a temperature above the decomposition temperature of said chromium precursor compound but less than the melting temperature of the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 or chromium for sufficient duration to yield a particulate compound having chromium essentially dispersed throughout the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, and then densifying said particulate to provide said cermet characterized by a theoretical density in excess of 96% and having 0.1 to 10.0 vol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 9, 1983
    Inventor: Chester S. Morgan
  • Patent number: 4393124
    Abstract: An improvement in solid electrolytes of advanced secondary batteries of the sodium-sulfur, sodium-halogen, and like combinations is achieved by providing said battery with a cermet electrolyte containing a metal dispersion ranging from 0.1 to 10.0 vol. % of a substantially nonreactive metal selected from the group consisting essentially of Pt, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Nb, their alloys, and their physical mixtures in the elemental or uncombined state, the remainder of said cermet being an ion-conductive ceramic material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 1981
    Date of Patent: July 12, 1983
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
    Inventors: Robert J. Lauf, Chester S. Morgan
  • Patent number: 4263406
    Abstract: A continuously referenced apparatus for measuring the concentration of a reactive chemical species in solution comprises in combination conduit means for introducing a sample solution, means for introducing one or more reactants into a sample solution, a reaction zone in fluid communication with said conduit means wherein a first chemical reaction occurs between said species and reactants, and a stream separator disposed within the conduit means for separating the sample solution into a sample stream and a reference stream. An enzymatic reactor is disposed in fluid communication with only the sample stream wherein a second reaction takes place between the said reactants, species, and reactor enzymes causing the consumption or production of an indicator species in just the sample stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 1979
    Date of Patent: April 21, 1981
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
    Inventors: William D. Bostick, Mark S. Denton, Stanley R. Dinsmore