Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage of progress in the major areas of chemical research. Written by experts in their specialist fields the series creates a unique service for the active research chemist, supplying regular critical in-depth accounts of progress in particular areas of chemistry. For over 80 years the Royal Society of Chemistry and its predecessor, the Chemical Society, have been publishing reports charting developments in chemistry, which originally took the form of Annual Reports. However, by 1967 the whole spectrum of chemistry could no longer be contained within one volume and the series Specialist Periodical Reports was born. The Annual Reports themselves still existed but were divided into two, and subsequently three, volumes covering Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry. For more general coverage of the highlights in chemistry they remain a 'must'. Since that time the SPR series has altered according to the fluctuating degree of activity in various fields of chemistry. Some titles have remained unchanged, while others have altered their emphasis along with their titles; some have been combined under a new name whereas others have had to be discontinued.

The Alloy Data Center, part of the National Standard Reference Data System, has two primary functions. One is to stimulate cooperation and coordination among the existing data centers in the area of the physical properties of well characterized alloys. The final data generated by these centers for publication should be consistent with one another where correlation or possible overlap exists. The other purpose is the collection (from publications as well as private communications), evaluation, and publication of data in some areas where special competence exists in the Alloy Physics Section. Of interest to the center are metals, semimetals, intermetallic compounds, and alloys. Excluded are those materials which have ill-defined constitutions and heat treatments. An automated system was developed to meet the bibliographic needs of the center. This system will be described as well as the specific properties of interest. The system presently contains a complete annotated file dealing with NMR Knight shift measurements. The soft X-ray spectroscopy compilation is being kept up-to-date with the same system. (Author).

The present volume A4 of the "Uranium" series of the Gmelin Handbook deals with two very important technological aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle: - the behavior of fuel elements during burnup in a nuclear reactor, and - the reprocessing of spent fuel to recover the non-fissioned uranium and newly created materials. The usefullifetime of a fuel element in a nuclear reactor depends strongly on the change of its chemical and physical properties during irradiation. Properties like thermal conductivity, swelling, creep, and oxygen-to-metal ratio are strongly affected by the intense neutron field and the energetic fission products. Furthermore, the high temperature gradient in a fuel element also produces alterations of the initial fuel. such as densification or U: Pu segregation. All of these effects are thoroughly discussed for the different kinds of fuels to be used in modern nuclear reactors today or in the future. The vast amount of very often Contradietory results in sometimes difficultly obtainable Iiterature has been summarized to create a compendium in this field with the two sections, on oxide and on carbide and nitride fuels, respectively. The chapters on reprocessing of spent fuels deal only with fuel elements of the uranium 235 thorium fuel cycle and with those containing fuel highly enriched in U. The treatment of U0 2 and (U,Pu)0 has already been given in the transuranic element series.