Primary Report on the Chronology of the Separations Plant Stack Discharge Active Particle Contamination Problem at Hanford Works

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eigdficant for UJ t6 note that t h a n w s no irrfication of radioectivs particlee. Reports af thlr work were mads by the individual concerned; it is Coincfdsnt with tbi third psar of optwmtion, them wa8,a.n htenelflcatlon of effort arpllad to the study of rsdioactivs stack discharge. b r b i n 19&7 a at,& of tiei b1pmblrA,, arxi the iidth Imtrunsnt Divi don increased fecuiiioa and Ampousr dav c td I:O at* of the generoll problem, It i s not poosiblra t o define the axact time a t which the discharge of radioactLrs prticxrlate Gtter fmt h e stack beoase twi ble, but thoro are aavaral indopanC6r.t faq & s t: ski y tia al evidence ach juetlfy estebliddng the incrrption of the problem during the eecord qu w ter of 1947. One filter Praa u!air aanpla mi for 7daye in April, 19b7, ohaud, upon reaxamhatian, air pr tic le either the very earliest or* mro dust, which had collected a little activity i n of low activity,* The total activity of the ample, kauewr, y.8 only 8 x 1OJ uc; hlbnas it eouna pmhable that theae pr tic lea were Beginning in 1946, prodnation axigency having been somswfiat loearned by t h e cmeation of hostilities, mro attantion waw focueed on the pmblan of stack discharge. Heasuransnts i n January, 1946, irdlcatd a total rct iv it y In ths A t this time, Pitnough no port.iaulate nuiioaciivs grcpm m8 inaugurated t o dlwraaoe the emcxmt of' I atornge prid for p ceos mata l. by the fact that by Jsnuam, 19l+7, the ovbrsge monthly radiaactlw 4 tim hsd beon dac rao ad tq a factor of tea (2.5 pc&) a t the locbtion 4tdh8 fmB Plant; a?? by o factor of Gore than fifty (O.Wp&g.) in UCJW - tter ma racognlsed, 8 QP T b ~ tthis effort ma crffeatire ie evidenced the stack had daareaned to 6,WG curiae per month. By h r c h , 1%7, I '3' d q 0 8 i - grams were completed i n the 200 Eaet ' Ama on the CLLOC- &umudy I n both tho hat and kat Areae late in September, 1947. 24,- WfiFle dudrig the same period In the Weat Am, eavarnl aFmilor spots were fowd an and around the patrcl &Liiuernenr the 291-T atack, and th6 shoes of a prtralrr;;;n uorklng in thi a am were contaminated. e 8 SI-W of Hanlord hrks Radiation Hozaxda for Reactor Meguard Ccmrnittee +* hdm of tho Stack Mac br ge Act in Particle Contamination Problem, If. H. Parker to Fila (HH-9259)

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Canyon air ;&.or to antering the fans - avail ahl o ll/l7/17Canycn air beyond tha fans but ahsad of t h e stack - avaLLable U/25/17. Stack air atthe To foot level - ad able U,4.7/&7.

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DcrinL; th h the due:@ uork prograaaad on tho filter In at all ation and a apecia3 test waa c aq let ed in B Plant whereby pmceaeing uas discontinuad hnd PsntFlatl~ fane shut dorm. tion ayetan if nsaenaary for lceviaiona o r maintenance. gx s ned, r?srthar lnvaatigationa i mica tad that rerloua difficulties muld paw Ukaly be encountered durfng irt stall atl on of the filtere. p r ' kicha Kith which there ma mcem mre nmgaatic. cormion products from the pmrida for r@acement of tabub Lmr3 ond ductwork ulth complete s tah del ro8td aaeanblles.~* Thb uork, it eat in at ad, could be o an ple td in half the tfw, d at ane-quorter tho cost of the temporary filters. such a change lould remom the ew ce of the particleu snd hence leeadn, or p c ~ a ' ibly & data tha need for filtem. culminated in t h e first comyrshwivb grmrd sumay.** in which there dio active particlea uem nettling ~ 1 x 1In wnich the concentration of particios, expreesai i n particlea per square foot (psi),existed. fic i at to zcta hare that th6 wne of h iaea i. concautration, 5to 10 pof,co vend appmxinntdy 50,oOO quare feet In the vicinity or' the stack. particle In this tone had an act i vitr in the range of 0.05 t o 0.5 u . activity of 103 mlllicruriue. In view of this data a d erPdsnce fmn continued amy uork that the situation ~GU not kiprad.rig, it waa decided that sow form of respiratory protection be WIP able pad aril WE c!!osen a3 rt prctsctian againat inhnLatlon of the larger sired usage t o bo surveyad and/or radiopl=.aphed. applied throsl&Jut t h s T Plant axcluaion area on 1/2/48.- Shortly before this the use af Cdo respirators pras adopted within a snnlJ.er specially ms tri zte cia ma near t;ha stack in R Plant, since the twea of porttcle camantration a t that locaticm rp- more cdaaprct and fwer peraoilnel ware imndlatsly efreotsd, By l/l.Q/U the rirat stal nl eee steel Pan and duct dr kh tall atl on had been cmplated in B Plant crnd the unit put Into operation. oba ad at the duct locatlona; it MO ponstbla to hme down 3cm5 of thiv lcosc Thla proved thef ' u ui bil it7 of removing a portion of the mn til r - Ae f Ll tar deoign work proSomslutlat ei multan u, Plana were changed, therefore, to Thie Indicated a pattern * estimate of the total der of than dst f ng particlee is 1.t x 1os , uith a total Accordingly, tha uno of these units wa8 __. The same wan affected in T Atthe time of thaee change8 a considerable amount of met yp3 * Tho 2914 Duct and Pan Aasenbliee reh tl va to the Particle Problem",

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mbp~rta,*s u ff ice it to say her s that the majord.ty of methods d d prom acced apOn sagert reornardation, huuewr, blading or othenrFae disturbing the natural comr mgstakLon i o naw hdd to a minimMp and rLTl precautions are taken to evbld damage to t be deed g me. timnsportstlon Didelon were ralocated in order t,a wrsnvlte a zone of high part Ida concsntraticn as a work moa. its eni~aionor&9 still af major concern and a medium for lcdlnu absorptlorr deemed were Installed I n eerie3 with each q ara tiw dissolvur i n ordar to watsr?cmb tha Ale0 in the 200 Ust ANI, th5 fd14tFt3 of tho Whlle t h o deposition of I had been vary rcarkedl,y mluced as cotparad dts ham coritirrued In operation aincq that time. be of conoideraSle hulp, work i a being continued t o improve their df ici an cy by which In 1tosl.f presente an deo ira bla disp ood. problem. hp let e evdlurtlon of thead dts has not yot, been plausibla, but evaluations asdo by tho Technical Dlviaion ham Wicstd lcd hd nitric d-ds rea ~ v d sfficienciss &aay be as high 88 %j$aad 60% reapectiwdy. It ha8 ah0 very l s f F n i t e been ehoun that thoao acrubbera remove D large portSon of the total off-gas activity, perhapa 80 much a8 95%. More definite data i s not yet available ainca the fr act ld canposltim of the dissolver off-gas iazot kzlown. rdaaaed during metal d iseo lu tl an ha8 not yet been determined. v 8 ~ 1ax$arded conaidarably over this period. a COntinudllp whiened area arri In in cr a a six number i n order to debez7z!Se the rat8 of dapoeltion of the radioactive particle:,. throughout tho Mo East and Weat Area3 in order t o deteradno thn pertide concantraU on In the air. Khan thaau and other experimental methods I rdi cate ci E; inc reu ing concentratLon af radioactive particulate matter In and near the opora'ting nmm, the crigmcy of a t thl8 tima, and with thought8 of cxperinental work with ocrubbers, fil ten ; cyclorle en,zratora, 4el act ros to tlc pre c ip it at or s in mind, that praliminm;. debe 8uffFcient for handling all proteas van til ation ai=. fzm the Canyon a d Concantra- . t lO nhild ln go and was t o be prov!!ded dth remotn control facilities and adequate bil it y for cw rdi nation of work applicable t o t'na problem on behalf of' the various Along with the , evaluation methcdds already mentioned, the work of the 1Iaalt.h Instrument M vision Oha catch clotha yare placed omr Thaae two media are still being qmrx!ed i n an in tens if lsd "his air purification system uas to It was also at thin time that the writ or ma aealgned full time msponsi- * "Redm of the Stack Mncharge Active Particla Contadnation Problsmw,

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It becanwe samewhat difficult at thin phase, with the hte ? dati on of factom at td ant upon tu& concerted affort, t o remain properly chronological. Abrid r88ume of the mjor 8c ti vlt les about June 1, l9!+8, ah odd aom t0 indicnte thia scrubber buF1dLng (293) to bs locatad betma t h e 291 fans and stack in each &rea. ' The Pra:sct X!h&naerfng Dldioion was working 7 daya per week on the dealgn of auch Imtnnnant, Technical, Inatnrment, Maintenance, and "Eln Divisions on problem Excavation for the unit In T Plant wan bagun on an emergency bash rapidly a8 Tont9tl.m orders were be- placed f o r a %toclone and Pmbody scrubber, and a An experimental scrubbing unit yae being Installed in a pmceas v e a o d vantilotioil Pins at Building 224-B. The iron ductuork of The ateam operated ad liar y veRt il at fo a fnn at 292-T ma xv- , cation a0 they demd adviaable. ventflntion rwf air purification arpclrta convened i n Wazhlngton, D. C. Fn o d o r bo dh!1CU88 anl begin t h e 8tud-Y of the stack gaa problem., bp ment a tire e of the Air Rductlon Corrrpany arrived at Word to confer and On June 7, 1948, therefam, a cdt tea of ultrasonic agglomsretora, an3 settling chambere waa being critic oll y reviawad in an af fort to cz tract my data r;hich might prow valuable in aiding the problem. Datafled cor.8ideration of' theee phaeea during the month of June aidad In alFminat- .:A ing some efforts and i n c m a i n g concantration upon others. Tn vim at' tha sdgancy '-:: of cony;lotion, it became apparent that the pmyosed 293 BuFLling vaa imp rac tid .-... a h a the eetirnated t h e for conrplotfon y88 1 5 mntha, ani the coat par unit

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The ultrauanic iqgciomercitor mnai80 dlacarderl, for the prseent a t least, duo to unpmn perforraanca and the intricacies of this type installs tion. Installation of the cx porl monts l electrostatic pre cfp it at or was coaqdeted and the unit tastd by the Technical Division in conjunction wlth representatives of the and dioctylphtolate (D.O.P.) fog, are documented In detail in a report Iroued by cated ard evalwatcri i n tha 200 Eajt Area. The unit canbhea the advtultages of Accordingly .st a ncetir;: hd3 on June U, it wan formally decided to abd on the 293 in at all ation in favor of aLdt scrubber in et all ation to be made at T Plant u tilia hg four axcosa stainleea ateel tanka available In the 100 Areas. "his in at all ation 'ra8 to eliminate a building and noto be canpleted with dl thls in at all ation in July and s contract for off-site fabrication of oquipmmt war) ln c fudd in order t.o IvRiuce tne burden thrust upon the bin ten ance Dlvioion. From direct contact with the Wac ture r,the Peabody acrubber in ita camerclal fom was eliminated M a posoible medium of air purFfication inasmuch an t h e quired b 7 the problem at H8nford. . Thls fact mu de terni nd tme of tunny of thr low superffdal &as velocity, which ped ta gravity settling of particulate matter, and ths L?c.ressod py a iS il it leo for Interception ard Brownian diffusion bhI10 a d dlacusalon of the sand filter i a presented in a report lsaued by C. E. Imnsdiata results indicated ~ ~ ff i clan cle scomidsrnbly i n lacceas .of %?%ar!d add it id teat units were atarted in fabric at lm. Data on these initid m s ar'3 Wcr%%'im . ii wwi usi in tne abovalnentloned report. Sinultmeoua with thle eocporimsnte.1 sard f i l t e r work and at tha roccmwmdation of Lapple, the Tochnicd. Division began evaluation.of a packed ocrubbFng unit scaled Durlng t h i a period (July) cormidarcition of Fantorial procurtmant, water auppiy, effluent disposal, and conatruction schedules relating to the propored lr-unit 1-4Mnild require dispoaal aa cont dna ted waste. It was rscamex!z-! tho Health Inatrumant Division t kt the total mount of water then baing cribbed or sent - directly to the ground should not ba crc a ded ; thu et hao mw - p dian t appoared t o be rei is e of the pmcaaa vessol jacket coollng water. elm of crib fac i lft la eli k daa baccuns an undesirable aspect of the unit, ( A canplate de a cdp tion - A large volume of water (1t00 t o 2,000 gdl one per minute wau estimated) Tho locatian, type

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necessity for off plant fabrication of the ductwrk becama incroa8FnSly oridant. Conaideration of these seva ml prvblanrn, data on the axperimantal sand filter d pnrtLds remod resulted on July 27, 19&, i n the decision to -On the h r g o scala scrubber pmgpm Fn faror of full 8cale sard filter iaetallatlona for T ud B P1mt.e. Whardao d a h itxihated that n 24 inch depth of 20-40 mash a d was capable of collecting better than 9@of particle activity at superficial up t o 10 ft,/mln., tho afficienclao obtained i n trial nuu of the scd bar grsot.4 vnrhd and considerably lower, mostly lese than 90%. Thus, n o t a t the a x cd cnt ad arptdiant design work already dona on the 293 ud scrubber units, ~ the Project Rgineering Mvision once mmo exerted concentrated affort and bagan to pduca print8 at once. heto tho largar mcnmt of naw nnd proposed construction activity In T ? Ut, it had been decfded to c mpl ste this installation first, emllar unLt in B Plant to be canpletcd Ao soon thera dtm as poseible. work for the T Plant unit waa begun on August 2: the ductwork dmac!! do sign d for Gia scrubber in s Uti on YBB in cog rn ted in the new design. srparimental work of the Technical Mvlalon Li k d sac on thud ud aided in establishing epecificati,ono for sizs of aggragate, depth of a d layers, atc. September 15, 1948, the TPht unit wart nearly ready for the lntroductlim af aggregate, and uork uaa wder way in B Plant preparatory …