Preface

In 1955 the varied information contained in literature pertaining to the

metallurgy of uranium was dispersed in several thousand articles and

reports. Much of this literature was difficult for many people to locate

or obtain; some reports were very limited in the number of copies, were

available only in obscure publications, or were classified by the Govern-

ment as secret or confidential. In addition, some of these reports were

redundant, relatively incomplete, or misleading. There was a need to

select, organize and interpret this material, and to make the gist of sig-

nificant portions readily available in published form.

Edward Epremian, then head of the Metals and Materials Branch of

the United States Atomic Energy Commission, recognized this need and

asked Frank Foote, director of the Metallurgy Division, Argonne Na-

tional Laboratory, for help in this work. I had been transferred recently

from the Metallurgy Division to another Argonne division now called the

International Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Dr.

Foote hoped that I could write on the metallurgy of uranium as a spare-

time by-product of preparing lectures and experiments for the inter-

national participants of the Institute. I was, therefore, selected to work

on this book.

The aspects of uranium metallurgy I decided to turn my attention to

were process metallurgy, safe practice, corrosion, and alloys. Abe N.

Holden, then of Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, had already assumed

the responsibility of writing a book on the physical metallurgy of

uranium.

Pushing my manuscript on uranium process metallurgy through de-

classification procedures was a pioneer effort. I was dealing with tech-

nological aspects of atomic energy that were extensively classified, and

it was necessary for classification reviewers to peruse the manuscript in

tedious detail. When first submitted, the manuscript would probably

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