Monthly Summary of Activities May 1948, U S Atomic Energy Commission

Page 1

This document consists of ZZ pa es Office of Budgets MONTHLY SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

Page 2

Research and Development..,. ..... Biology and hledioine............. Ui lita ry Application,,..,........ ADIJINLSTRAT IVE ACT TV IT m Organization and Personnel.,..... Budget and Finance............... Public and Technical Information.

Page 3

The month of May marked t h e completion of the weapon test program a t Eniwetok. was released for publication ata press conference i n Honolulu on Nay 18, and earlier plans were completed t o establ isha board responsible for determining what disclosures should be made of weapons effects. , k limited amount of information A t Schenectady a second critical assembly experiment was carried out i n connection with studies which anticipate design and construction a t Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory of the so-called intermediate reactor, NYDO has long felta need fPra chemical laboratory facility to enforce and c-r-trol quality standards of the production plants under its responsibility. authorized the facility and NYDO planned t o purchase a building a t New Brunswick, M.J. The repeatedly postponed appropriation hearings began at the end of hlay and resulted i n an appropriation f o r Fiscal Year 1949 of $53.1,850,O0Ot compared with the requested amount of $550,000,000, and i n approval of the requested $400,000,000 of c ontr act authority. The managers’ May conference held i n conjunction with the budget hearings provided opportunity f o r coordination and exchange of information on a number o f problems. Particu lar attention was given t o exploring town management policy, the focus of discussion being t h e report of Lyman S . hIoore,

Page 4

Additional allowances. - On May 12 press announcement was made of two additional-allowances for delivery of uranium-bearing ores t o the AEC ore purchase depots i n the Colorado Plateau area. The first is a haulage allowance of six cents per ton-mile f o r transporting ore from the mines t o the depots, with a maximum allowance limited t o a haulage of 100 miles. an allowance of 50 cents per pound of 5 0 8 contained i n ores assaying 0.20 percent or more U3O .:These allowances became effective on June 1, 1948, and wi.83. continue until July 1, 1949. They w i l l be published as Domestic Uranium Program Circular No. 4 . The payments are i n addition t o those announced i n Circular No. 3, The second grants Ore purchasing. +. A letter of intent was issued i n May t o America; Smelting and-Refining Compaoy outlining the terms under which it will a c t as the AEC contractor i n purchasing uraniumbearing ores ip the Colorado Plateau area. Pending execution b f the contract, the company proceeded w i t h recruitment, planning, and the design of sampling facilities. Drill i ? . - I n the Club Mesa and Slick Rock areas, 85 holes aggrega mg5,741lineal feet were drilled during May, Other Domestic Uranium Programs Drilling of certain shale formations was continued and In another area additional samples from ti cula r black shale. mine faces and drill holes were obtained for laboratory analysis inthe hope of discovering a formation containing large amounts of very low-grade uranium ore, were made t o determine the oil content of a parIn the Custer District of the Black Hills the drilling of 6 holes was completed aggregating 913 lineal feet and Gutting 110 feet of beryl-bearing rock. A contract was awarded for 2,000 t o 3,000 feet of core drilling in Colorado's Crystal Mountain district,

Page 5

Production Control Laboratory NYDO was authorized t o acquire and operate directly,rather than by contract, chemical laboratory facilities for controlling the quality of materials processed by production plants under its responsibility, and i n which to carry on analytical development Uranium Feed Materials ckrodt, Linde, and Carbide program f o r the development of a continuous process for the manufacture of UFI,was the subject of a meeting inSt. Louis on Nay 19, There were indications that the most satisfactory process inall respects maybe a compromise between a continuous and a batch-type operation. Oak Ridge requirements. - The j o i n t AEC, Harshaw, Mallin- -Average d a i l y production of UF6 by Harshaw has aharply expanded, as a result of the oompletion of additional facilities,to a level in excess of Oak Ridge daily operating requirements. Hanford requirements. II n ability of Simonds Saw and Steel Company during’the last week of Ray to roll an entire 100 tons of uranium i n the alpha phase, a s planned, ledto negotiations dth Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Company to roll 175 tons by June 18 and with Sfmonds t o undertake 4nce again to roll 100’tons during the last full week i n June. Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K45-27) series of power disturbanoes which brought about extensive mixing of materials of varying assays. deficiency will be largely offset by increased output over a future Output dropped belaw schedule during May as a result of a It is expected that the May servations that increased magnetic fields permit substantial inareases i n ion current t o be achieved i n calutron operations. Process improvement, - Continued tests confirm earlier obThe indicated feasibility of operating a Beta Track with perhaps four tanks operating a t each of six different magnetic field strengths promises increased flexibility for experimental

Page 6

rolled lead-dipped slugs during May revealed significant warning- -and slug distortion but little -blistering. warping and slug distortion, but more blistering, were observed i n alpha-rolled slugs which had been triple-dipped. The latter condition was felt to b3 the more satisfactory compromise oflothe two and t h e lead d i p caming process, inst.ituted on March 24, has been replaced by the triple dip canning processo Use of carbon dioxide* - Further investigations indicate that C% concentration in.pileD can ssafely be increased above the present 25 percent and t h a t higher concentrations may permit more flexibility as t o length of shut-down and speed of start-up, &mental discharge, - Highly successful tests were made of the sp'li;?e and reel system of pulling slugs.back into position. Following diszharge of a fraction of the slugsl a metal tape is passed through the prcicess tube, attached toa dummy slug at the discharge end of the tu?e, and reeled in, drawing t h e s!.?igs back into proper place iii the fQbe> anothe;. method contemplated promises t o reduce radiation hazards Use of this method rather than struct ion of an a LE ventn graphitizing furnace was completed, permitting o m fi~..ma$.st 3 he maintained i n starldby a t al!. - lime so summarized as follows t May (es%lmted) 363 tons 188 tons Machining operations i n the 101 Building a t Hanford were i n full operation throcghout May with total output of 18;308 curralative total of 36,877 pieces,, A less opt#imis-tic appraisal of the health hazards inthe beryllium plentF o f AEC contractors prompted a meeting in late Nay Lo explore the adequacy of present stockpiles t o permit a conplete shut - d w ~ n of beryllium operations fer a number of months while a thciqa::gh aoi.ution tothe health problem i s soughto 1%

Page 7

was concluded that t h e necessary information on requirements could be assembled i n June. Industrial Mobilization Planning In meetings with the National Security Resources Board, agreement was reached on the priority and nature of studies t o be initiated in formulating the AEC mobilization plan. field offices have proceeded to-compile information on electric power and manpower requirenents capaoity f o r allocation, etc. availability of industrial

Page 8

Redox- During May a series of meetings mas held between AEC representatives, General Electric Company, and the principal subcontractors involved i n the Redox program, including kellex, Standard Oil Development, and Blaw-Know. A major effort was undertaken t o review and redefine the entire program i n terms of the manner of approach, emphasis on alternate techniques, number and types of plant ultimately t o be constructed, and Design undertaken now must be based on numerous assump- ' tions which provide an uncertain foundation. several weak points i n present knoviledge about t h e process flow. For the alternate types of contacting equipment under consideration, many features of design and predicted performance have yet t o be developed, development of t h e horizontal, mixer-settler equipment, but even here many design problems illirst be resolved. auxiliary equipment has scarcely begun. Iihot11 pumps, remote controlled valves and tools, and a great variety of remote indicating instruments. There still exist There i s increasing disposition t o emphasize In this category fall Ground was broken i n the 200 ;:'est Area a t Hanford fora building of dimensions 1'301 x 651 x 15' i n which ultimately all canyon effluent air will be treated on a routine basis following the testing of various equipment and development of as at is fac - Inconclusive results indicate that the four scrubbing towers installed in the dissolver cells of the East and West Areas are removing about half the No2 and a large percentage of the radioiodine, Hanf ord Construction DR, - By three-shift operations during May the main p i l e buildinF(1O'jDR) was brought from 11 percent t o 21 percent cornple ti on. H. - I n the lOOH Area, temporary facilities, including batch piant, safety and first aid buildings, eke, were 20 percent complete z t the end of "ky. General facilities (including cent complete, The entire project vas about 3or4 percent complete,

Page 9

Other Plant Facilities ahead of schedule. and a start had been made cii the 234-5 Building. T-X Tank Farm was 51 percent complete, 12 percent The Redox Scaleup was 90 percent complete The 450 precut houses were virtually completed and'the 397 permanent units nearly so. 1000 Ranch type houses, plete, the new junior high school was stated, and the 2,2 million gallon reservoir was half completed, Work was well started on the School extensions were 65 percent comOther Housing and Town Construction Unexpectedly high bids for the proposed 450 apartment units ledto abandonment of the 50 houses planned for the current phase of the long-range replacement program and t o negotiation of a contract inthe amount of $8,007,212 with Merritt-Chapman and Scott Corporation for 453 apartment u n i t s of somewhat more Construction of Research Facilities Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory----u_I Over-all design work was 61 percent complete. of construction of component units ranged from 43 percent for the Separations Pilot Plant to3 percent for the General. Office Brookhaven National Lab oratory Machining of graphite and feed metal continued and p i l e A shortage of bricklayers somewhat retarded pile construction reached 5'7 percent of completion, slightly ahead building construction. Auxiliary facilities, including the pile laboratory and the f a n building, were less advanced. Excessive cost estimates prompted the redesign and simplifi cation of plans for the building t o house the cyclotron and Van deGraaff machine. Bid invitations were issued for chemistry facilities and a contract was being negotiated for design of the

Page 10

O a k Ftidge National Laboratory During May progress toward completion of experimental facilities for the high flux reactor advanced from t? t o 10 percent; metallurgy facilities from 70 t o 75 percent; water line and reservoir from 78to 90 percent. Argonne National Laboratory On May 26 the general site plan for tne permanent facil - ities was reviewed for final revision before presentation t o OCDO and Washington. Preliminary design works on individual buildings i s being prepared for similm presentation and review. Temporary laboratory facilities were 22 percent complete against scheduled progress of 24 percent. Construction advanced i n May from 26 t o 35 percent completion, conpared with scheduled progress of 56 percent, Four bricklayers are a t work where 25 could be used. Chemistry Annex Building 935 100% The authorized construction expenditure was increased The continuing bricklayer strike has by $5,212,500 t o $22,852,500 and the completion date postponed not seriously interfered vcith general progress, which was satis - transferred tothe operating contractor, making a total of 6?,, It was planned to transfer the ItP1l, llGtI, and llGHtl Buildings i n During May 53 more rooms i n the llTIIBuilding were Sciot o Labora tory- Work was begun on preparations for actual construction.

Page 11

IV - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT of full size components i n approximately one tenth the number required for the reactor. It will be used for six.months t o test fabrication techniques and handling of fuel rods, the warping of rods, the oxidation of the sodium potassium alloy coolant during rod removal, etc, sodium potassium system for circulation of hot alloy, The model will be connected tothe present Intermediate reactor. - Soil conditions atthe proposed reactors it eat ' UH, were tested by five drill holes. geological and surface water reports were received from t h e U.S. Geological Survey and a survey of t h e remote area was made by Critical assembly studies, - The second assembly a t Sacandaga Laboratory was brought to critical it y without incident and experiments proceeded smoothly. It included hexagonal cores of intermediate size (20 inches across flats) and a complete uranium blanket. It was found necessary t o fill the interior of the hexagons completely with the fuel slugs, leaving no room for Studies were being made of various transient effects, the effectiveness of fuel in various radial positions, and the calib ration of the control rods m Reactor proving ground. - The necessity for and the problems incidental to the establishment of are actor proving ground were being analyzed by staff divisions. Cosmic Ray Research BNL's Nuclear Interaction Group has been studying cosmic ray tracks in photographic emulsions carried by balloon t o altitudes of 35,000 and 100,000 feet and by airplane t o somewhat lesser altitudes. Study of the plates, as yet incomplete; reveals numerous single tracks, including those of mesons, one heavy meson decay, and copious production of stars-one having The Commission authorized off-project distribution of tritium and declassification of certain information as t o the

Page 12

fundamental properties of t h i s radioactive isotope of h3drogen having an atomic weight of 3 . The relative simplicity of tritium's atomic structure makes i t ' especially suitable for a variety of nuclear experiments of an unclassified nature. In addition t o work being done elsewhere, allocations had already been made t o Brookhaven and t o Columbia University. Contract extensions. - Work was substantially completed by NYDO on the'extension'of t h e MI" metallurgy development con-. tract which provides for existing programs t o continue during the next year, greater emphasis on zirconium and its alloys, and two new programs of basic study. The Sylvania Electric Products, Inc. contract, a l s o being extended by NYDO, w i l l cover powder metallurgy development and be particularly concerned with uranium, beryllium, zirconium and Possible future contracts, - Area Managers were requested t …