Ordo Weekly Activity Report for Week Ending February 6, 1948

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On January 28, 1948 the first tubes manufactured i n the Barrier Plant a t K-25 were rolled into the ;\iwnber 2size converters. Approval has been granted for the as sip ment of two qm li fie d physicists representing the NEPA Pro j pct to the K-25 research group working on critical it y experiments, on afull - time basis, and s abject t o full direction of Carbide and Carbon Cher.,icals Corporation supervisory The following visitors were cleared into the area A conference - m s held in this office on January 2 6 regarding the occupatioxcl disease clnim suit oi" Zd Zo ussr against Tennessee Eastman Corporation. Attorney, T3C attorneys, and r c ? resent at ives of the Division of ?teesearch, AX, and the Insurance Brancii, AX,in addition to representatives of this office. Saveral v ribes ses were inter roy ate ? 2nd atour was made of the ?laces o f er.yloTpent of the ? la in tiff. iho conference vms attended by the District Thc Alpha operation program i s being reshaped t o include more emphasis on increasing t h e production indices. Rerotofore little YF.S done on this Thnse as stress was placed upon reliable operation and c lim in z tion of excessive erosion fro = electron and ion bom3ard:nent. The new progrm.1 will still carry thcsz features in order t o gather data for fuciire unit design,

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The reactivation of the not or generators etat the south end o f Alpha t r a c k 6 was completed on Friday, January 30. This set, vihich will supply DC pover tothe Seta I.:odel SIagnet, was found t o be in satis facto yy condition after having reriained i n standby for tvro Beta track5will be shut dovm for about 8 hours on Thursday, February 5’ for the annual motor-generator set maintenance service Several track modifications will also be made wliile them gne tic field is Indiu2 collection runs continued throughout the week i n both XPX tanks vrith InCl being used ex clu s ’ vely as charge material. lected in separate pockets. Of the fourteen runs tried,ten vere productive and four failed to obtain innage. Of the ten productive runs, four were temin a ted forK failure after 28 t o 37 hours innage. Upon termination of the Potassium collection runs early in the week, Rhenium collection rims were begun i n both i:BX tanks. This i s the first atternpt t o concentrate the Rhenium isotopes on a production basis in the stable isotope program. One K g of Rhenium was 05tai ned from thc University of Tennessee. has 5eerr prepared in 150 grari batches and i s being tried as charge mate?ial. runs viere nade during the week collecting the tyro isoto2es Re1% (38.2%) The transfer of the 100 mg. sample o f Uranium 235-2361 from Clinton Labora’Gorics t o Y-12 for assay ~ m sdelayed duo tothe insuffic i ent quantity of them atc rial bein% prepared a t Clinton h bora korie s. The s a iq lc is to be delivered early next veek. David 3 , Langnuir, Exccutivc Officer of the Program Council, AX, ’.Vashinzton was given a condu.c?;ed tour of Areas 1, 2 , and 3 technical matters pert lining to the raw mats r in ls rescarch prog rm. The operating COS^ o f producinz radio isotopes results in a deficit ovor sales and trans f crs of approximately $16,000 per month. Aninv2stip tion has heen mado vifiich indicates th2.t this deficit is partly

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are scl t of under-pricing two of the isotopes i n Treatestderian-d, F32 and cor q let ely wine it oxt 'by 1950, Technical im;,rove:7Lei:ts arc: expected t o rlecrezse this deficit and kpy?roval has beeil giaen for IC-25 t o expend an additional amount of $ lS,OGO to coq let e developnent work for Clinton Xational Laboratory on special Suffered sleeve 3ear in z seals and Sack-seated 2rocess he liu nat 15 atmospheres pressure. The e lui pm nt is for the Pover Pile Division and vriil be used on Effective February 1, Clinton ::ntionp.l Leboratory was requested t o begin transferring ax-d rec eiv in z SF nate rl nl s directly to and from other opera tins contractors, cordance with the Co mission ts program for better nation31 accounting Tfiis change has beon v.ado i n acArgonne Nztional Laboratory has asked for 36 additional X-type uranium slugs above the 90 they had 7reviously recpested. to the depletion of our existing slug stock pile, A sample o f 15 grams o f Iiraiiium 235 was irradiated at -4 part of Yhe sm.pl2Hanford t o produce a mall quantity of Ur?.niun 236. has been deconkaainated and transferred to 1-12 Tor an isotopic assayI Results of this assay will ? emit further study of the Uranium 236 sep a rz t ion Iiroblen. A meetins i s schedQlcd Tor Februzry 5 betrreen Tracerlab, Inc., Clinton National - hb orator jr and the Isotope Division to disc css the part Tracerlab will have inthe Isotone DistribGtion Progrzm. Traccrlclb is primarily inter ost odin >reducing, for sale, organic compounds contai ning carbon 14. The N3PA Organization h a s susycsted, and. Clinton Nat iom.1 Laboratory !-as indicrited agr exe rit, khnt frequciit short meetings cuss topics of m ~ i t ~ n li nter est. Proi'essor Gniidin, who is doing uranium chen is try rcsoarch work under contract with MYDO visited Clinton J at ional Laboratory to discuss chemistry and ?!iysics _nrobl:rs co:,-,ected with his studizs. grcssing mp idly in priority rooms Sul'Ticicnt number of prior it7room arc now 'ueinr; completed top cm it Xonsnnto operations personnel to start

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installation later this mcnth. Outside construction work has been somewbs3t curtailed this week due t o severity o f weather. Eadio Station WATO started comnercial boardcasting fron Oak Ridge st l:3O p a . on Sunday, February 1. included a transcribed address b y lk. Lilient'nal and short personal ad1.3. Cooper, Chairman or" the Town Council. The station operates under a concession agreenent with the Roane-Anderson Conpzny and will broadcast daily from 6:OO amp.. until Ridnight. Addressograph plates have been nade for all the nacles on the official Isotopes Division rmiliiig list. ITmes of approximately 1700 persons are included. , from applications sub n it ted to this office. The new qddressing syst ei -;?illbe il rit i a ted next week with the dZr's?ribution of two inportai1-h articles byDr. Robley D o Emns (3000 copies of the latter were furnished to the Isotopes Division, free o f charge by t h e publishers of Ducleonics rmgazinc). Ernes and addresses have been taken dir oct ly Advisory Field Service i3ranch consulted with GI 9. Long and C. F. Loughtan, of fic in ls of the Fri;idaii--e Division, General iiotors Corporation, I>ayton, Ohio. The nee ting vas for the purpose of Giscussing the uses of radiothe 'CTiiversity o f Cincinnati, I:edical School in setting u~ labor c tory monitoring procedures during processing and administering radioisotopes F b C. Henriques, Robert Prost and ilelvin Fields from TraoerFebruary 5to discus (1) the nroduction and redistribution of isotopelabeled conpounds, md(2)the use of re note control cquiprient €or handling radioactive materials d urine chemicnl processes, Aqticipatcd Act iv it ie s__ Dr. Acbersold i s scheduled t o give the following spccohcs February 10 - 4 8 t h Annual Farm and EOLE Xcek sponsorcci by Iovm S t a t e Drr Acbcrsold will. also visit .the Atomic Resezrch Iast it utc at Amcs on this date.

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Antic ipat ed Act iv i ties( Cont td ) February 11 - National Farn Institute meeting a t Des kloines, Iowa. February 15 and 16 - Discussion o f isotope uses with technical staff Dr. Roth visited the Nzkional Bureau of Standards and the Division of Research, Vashington, Febr.iary'3-4 and discussed t h e XBS program, It appears that except for military,reactor, and the mathematical cornputat iom, the new projects which can be initiated between now and June 30r can be aocomplis!ied within the present budget o f $400,000. In view of the approved medical projects, and the possible a ? pro val of the expected projects emumerated above, expansion of the Bureau progmm will Approval has been granted, suS j ect to spec5.f ied conditions, for selected WE?fA person ml top z rt ici pate in the critical it y experimcnts Informal arrangev.ents for the Ii IT Practice School a t K-25 Formal agreement mill be mde befxecn and Y-12 were coxpleted during the visit of Dean TI K, Shemood, Professor KIT and Carbide and Car5on Chemicals Corporation, wtd sub3it ted to this office for approval, Los Alamos has informed this office that 396 pieces of metal for G. E. Xucleonics Grouy, arc available for shipnent. i s attemptiLng to obtain status 0: a ? pro val of the project from ?iashington. Argome Eat ional Laboratory requires thirty copies of the Since pu3lis her is Bloom Volume on Ilis%opatholocy 5s February 1s for special course t o medical not yet se lcc tcd, it i s necessary to issue temporary edition. Volnie has been prepared and smt to printer this YKX!~. A conference was held with I:e;crs. John 3 u l l (C&CZC), Zndcrs and Dvpr(AX)to assist Carbide t o assemble information relative to the hazards of fire and health associated with the Dccatur Operation.

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Xevr equipment has been ?it in service by the Shipment 3y elixiinating fuel stops along the route, it Security aranch, which now ndces it possible to travel fro2 Oak Ridge t o Chicago without refueling. has substantially strengthened our security of shipments. this Branch will attend a conference i n Washington, D. C. this corning week to iron out ?roblens confronted by all Shipment Se our it y Branches throughTho Chief of Two airplanes were sighted flying 0-Te.r Oak Ridge area at an altitude too high t o be identified other than one .wa.s ai)C4 and Lt. Col. R. 0. Nunamaicer and Ihjor J. SI Greer are, presently visiting 0ak:Ridge and will remain here through February 6. Their visit is in conn3ction with the revision of the emergemy trans y or tn - ' After intensive negotiations last Friday and Saturday January 30 and 31, agreement vms reached bkhveen the Contractor and the. Knoxville Building Trades Council t o accept TVA msintenmce rates and em plo pent policies effective January 27, 1946, provided that no present rate i n excess o f TVA be cut, Rate sohedulcs will therefore not 3e identical increase in v - cation from a naximm of ten days per year t o twenty-six days per par, double time for work o n the seventh day of the regularly scheduled work weck inste2d of tine and-a-hp-lf, sic!: leave t o bo paid on the first day nbscnt instead of the sctcond, and a pension plan which, added to social security benefits,rrill Zive the o quin lent of the TY. retirement systen. Ths p i - inc ipl advantage of the settlement is that, hereafter, Onk Rides mnintcnanco rd xs will follow TVA and : rill be nc got i at cd aWLi.inll7 instead of eveyy six months. apply to the maintcnnncc and custodi51 cmployces o f tEe Ozk Ridge School - ! d orson maintenance cmploj-ees. The Fcnsion plan will likewisc have t o be extended to at le3stthc On:: Ridgc Fire and Police Dcpal-hTlents and perhaps othcr Oak Ridgc employccs. ungrzded civil sc rvi cc cnployccs on the sane bzsis as Roanc-Anderson since Princip l changes i n ernploymont poli cio s are an These changes will nl so As a result of thc scttlcmciit, somc of Raonedndorsonrs homver, hss promiscd t o flsrnish addition d menr

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YJLB on January 29, 1948, dismissed Clots appeal against a previous KLRB decision not to hold ari election in the Laboratory; thus AFL i s confirmed as the bargaining representative, meeting vms held February 4, 1748, and was confined to gec era li ties. parties are bargain in s aza in st the dead-line date of Harch 1, 1748, date of the Carbide take-over. If agreeinent i s reached by that date,itis retroactive to Decenber 18, 1947. retro activity, and alsoa question as t o whether Carbide will consider the -4FLXonsanto agreement as still being in effect. The first negotiation If' it isnot reached, thera is no c American Industrial Transit Company- TTegotiations continued today between the contractor and Employees of ATerica, AFL, bus drivers (1s# an hour increase) with sick leave omitted from the contract prescnk sick leave. Although the union has notified tha Federal liediation unlikely that the conciliator will be needed since tho parties v rl ll probably settle very soons The unionrs proposal o f $1.275 an hour for and Conciliation Service inc canpliance with Taft-Eartloy, it appezrs 4 $ AX, :' Fifty power equipment operators, AFL, asked for tcrminrrtion slips today in protest at the layofL" of a foreman ina reduc5ion i n ing, The only serious danger, %he %!ireat to operation of t!e new steam plant, has been met by speeding up the transfer of thc plant to Llonsanto Chemical Company. I!eeanwhile, the contractor expects the business agents of t h e Operating Ensineers and the Knoxville Building Trades Council t o either kee? the inen on the job or supply ncm ones. The con tr xc ter has refused t o tcminzte the men, rho arc not work- '.UA sales of first group of trailers definitely set Ship ing of crop crt y to TJJRI was completed on Jznuary 31. Total VJLA sales to this purchaser 3.pproximntcly !~9OO,OOO acquisition value. Congressman Xo Stor ling Cole, Vice Chairman, and Ilr. a conducted t o u r of this -*Zen including tho Oak Ridge ExhiSit ROOIT,, IC-25,