/sup 238/Pu fuel form processes. Bimonthly report, September-October 1979

Progress in the Savannah River /sup 238/Pu Fuel Form Program is summarized. Full-scale fabrication tests continued as 4 pellets (General-Purpose Heat Source Pellets 10, 11, 12, and 13) were hot pressed and 3 pellets (GPHS Pellets 9, 10, and 11) underwent final heat treatment. The successful drilling of a one-eighth-inch diameter hole from the top of GPHS Pellet 8 to the center of the pellet after 2 1/2 months of storage and testing is one of several indications of the overall ruggedness of GPHS fuel pellets fabricated in the PEF. Microstructural analysis of a full-scale GPHS fuel pellet fabricated at LASL (LASL-GPHS Pellet 31) indicated that density gradients and internal cracking were more severe in this pellet than in SRL-GPHS pellets. As-received powder, oxygen-exchanged powder, and ball-milled powder samples from LASL were characterized by SEM analysis and by Coulter Counter particle size analysis.