Hanford Works Monthly Report for September 1952 (Deleted)

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Atomic aergy Cormnission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Conrmission Hanford Operations Office Atdc Fnergy Commission

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Separations Technology Unit............ .Applied Research Unit................ Financial Department ....................... 1-1 through 1-4 Statistics Unit.................... 58-2 through Je-8 Utilities and General Sex-dces Department Statistical. and Computing Sem ces Section Employee and Public Relations Department ............K - 1 through K-27 Community Real Estate and Services Department ............ L-1 and L-2 Real estate Section .......................... 11-1 Housing and Real Estate Maintenance Unit.......Lj - 1 through Lj-9

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HANFORD WORKS MONTHLY FUPCIRT New high records were established inthe Metal Reparation Section, Manufacturing Department, where production f o r the month represented I n the Reactor Plants, there was continued slug rupture trouble but only one processed 95% of material separated, with corresponding benefit t o unit costs. percent of forecast. EledoxThe Isolation Building processed U 6 percent of forecast. Uranium shipments met the forecast from Redox and cold material used in TBP testing. However, there were continued difficulties in achieving satisfactory w a s t e losses in TBP and processing of tank material has not yet started. Engineering and Technolog The preliminary project proposal for the 100-K Area facilities was completed during the nonth and submitted tothe Appropriations and Budget Committee for A t month's end, 1004 was 99+$ complete, Special Agreement G-12 covering the procurement of L,125 tons of graphite was executed by t h e National Carbon Company. Agreement E 5 covering the supplying of an additional 775 tons of graphite (3,875 total)was executed by General 21ectric and the Commission and forwarded t o National Carbon for approval. Design progress on 1004 Reactor Facilities advanced t o 36.3% completel Modification No. 1 to S pedal An ultrasonic method is being developed as a device f o r evaluating the heat treatment of slugs on a production basis. Promising results were obtained with a slug bonding technique comprising a copper flash on uranium followed by chromium plating and this followed. by hot pressing t o aluminum can material. Personnel and Services The plant roll decreased from 8,885 t o 8,802, and the turnover rate increased from 2-03 i n August t o 2.60% i n September. Since August I, 1950, 2b5 employees have terminated t o enter military sezpice, of which 33 have returned, leaving 212 still in military leave status. Following interviews with a random sample of about 160 employees, it was determined that a flrll scale Employee Attitude Survey should be undertaken. A f i r e in the bioassay laboratory severelp. damaged the building interior, temporarily putting the facility out of operation. There were 726 housing applications pending.

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Assistant t o the General Manager, General Administration .... G. G.Lail Assistant t o the General Manager, Technical .......... W. I. Patnode Assistant t o the General Manager, Evaluation of Division Manager, Finance ........................WOW. Srrrith Manager, Utilities and General Sdces Manager, Conmzunity Real Estate and Services

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MANUFACTURING DE PAR IW ~ EMPLOYEE & PUBLIC REGATIONS 40 Plant Sec. & Sen.

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MJNUFACTURTNG DEP ARX NT METAL PREPARATION SECTIOY The production for tho month vas A6 tons of &Inch material and U 8 tons o f &Inch nate rid for a total of 164 tons. cent of forecaat, and laa new record o f achievement for the section. machining field waa 81.7 percent and 81.0 percent for &inch and %inch The canning yield waa 80.6 percent for &inch material and 72.4 percent for The mmlt plant produced 58 tons of billets with a yield o f 83.1 percent and a eolld yield of 94.4 percent. . There were no autoclave fdlures o f either 8 or &inch material. third successive month with no autoclave failures of &Inch material. This is the The reactor Input production was 126,2 percent of forecast and represents a new record of achievement above that established in July, 1952. A new t o t a l Input production record was established on September 29, representing an in5 EIW during this period. The reactor output was 114.2 percent of forecast. There were 12 uranium slug jacket failures during September, of which three were Group 7, aoven wera Group 8, and two were Group 9. Five of these were discharged Vithin the scram recovery tlme, avoiding app rom t ely 100 hours The-mrrirmlm operating level at the B Reactor vas increased of poterltial outage time. !The operating efficiency of the reactors was 90.6 percent. due t o the reduced outage time caused by ruptured pieces. One leaking tube, 4376-H, was removed a t H Area. reamed during a regularly scheduled outage. This was primarily This tube was located and The Iaolation Building procesaed 116 percent of forecast. were etarted repreaenting I@ percent of forecast. Diversion of the metal t o Redox left only a Canyon Buildings. total of 8 runs and. 7 acid washes t o be processed inthe

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"Cold" uranium. ~ n sfrom Redox UNH continued i n the TB, process. metal runs on double diameter TBP pulse column in A line gave expectation o f improved performance. These runs included variation of the feed r a t e , pulse frequency and percent of the RAX feed, being designed and fabricated for installation in the nBn line. A t o t a l of 76.4 tons of uranium as U03 was produced and was 67.6 percent o f Harshau. The steam stripping of the UNH f r o m TBP has substantially reduced the foaming troubles, making it possible to convert t h i s material to U03. A t month's end a new RA column was In additdon, 57 tons of uranium as UNB was produced and shipped t o Total on Roll September 1, 1952 3 u Total on Roll September 30, 1952 3239

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PATENT REPORT SUMMARY All persons engaged in work that might reasonably be expected to result in inventions o r discoveries advise that, t o the best of their knowledge and belief, no inventions or discoveries were made in the course o f their work during the period covered by t h i s report except as listed below. Such persons further advise that, for the persod therein covered by this report, notebook records, if any, kept in the course o f their work have been emmined for possible inventions o r discoveries.

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METAL PREPARATION SECTION Responsibilities of the Metal Reparation Section remained unchanged. Bare Pieces Machined (4",Tons) Bare Pieces Machined (8", Tons) Acceptable Pieces Canned (4",Tons) Acceptable Pieces Canned (8", Tons) Total kchind - Tons Total Acceptable Canned - Tons Seotember Jwst To Date *Exceeds record o f 150 T established November 1948.

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Metal Preparation Section Seutember Aumst To Date Chip Recovery Yield (%) 85.7 Melt Plant Billet Yield (%) 83.1 Melt Plant Solid Yield (%) 91.4 Oxide Burned (Weight Out Tons) 7 Poison Canned (Numbec Pieces) 5469 Chemical 68-56 Canned (Number Pieces) 0 Chemical 10-66 Canned (Mumber Pieces) 740 305 Special Tests (Ifan Hours) 356 Total Steam Generated (M lba.) 8000 7300 Average Rate Steam Generated ll 10 Sanitary Water from 3000 zlrea 3 39 Total Water Average Rate (gpm) 859 863 The qu all ty of the rods improved over the previous month resulting in an increased machining yield. Approxbately 75% of the rods machined into four inch s l u g s and 25% f the rods machined Into eight inch slugs vera from Hanford bil$ts. The rsmaining rode were machined f’rom virgin Malllnckrodt material. Cnnninp yields for both four and eight ,inch materfal increased approximately 4%. During the first pa?t of the month the nonseat rejection rate vas extremely high Wth an nverage of about the canning operation, the daily rejeclion rate dropped sharply t o about 4%, bringing the average for the month t o 9.3%. effect has confirmed previous teats indicating operator technique to be an important factor i n determi& cnnning yields. Almost coincident vfth the additgon o f mora supervision t o The decrease in billet yield is largely the result o f stopper rod and mold breakage while casting and to a heavier cropping of the billets to maSntain billet quality. a lightly from last month due t o an increase i n the ratio of TXB The eolid yield decreaasd

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Metal Preparation Section Considerable difficulty was initially experienced i n welding "C" However, an order for 600 of these slugs is approximately Machininp production was 33% above forecast due generally t o additional training of relatively inexperienced personnel and be= cause the machining force was not reduced by tranafers to other operations as forecasted. increase the inventory of bare slugs which vas low as machined dugs from off site were not received during August and September Additional machining was necessary t o Canning production was U4.38 of forecast. A breakdown of the U.39 shows that approximately 6.3% was due t o a reduction in the eight inch csnning t i m a cycle, 4% to improved yields and 4% t o working one additional day over forecast. Billet pruduction exceeded the forecast by approximately 3% due t o wor- one additional day over forecast. Repairs were r&uired on eight canning furnaces during the month, due generally t o crucible failures. The rod straightener required extensive repair resulting in four A Brooks Load Lugger truck which hydraulically lifts containers off and on the truck was put i n service for trash disposal. containers have replaced garbage cans and other unsightly receptacles. Tbe equipment is adaptable t o handling of other types of containers fected in trash d is pod alone through reduction in equipment and It i s estimated a savings of $8,000 per year will be efC. Imrovement We rien ce PT-313-105-24 - "Triple Dip Canning and Irradiation of Eight Inch

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D Metal Reparation Section Approximately 29,500 acceptable pieces uere fabricated i n accordance with this test durfng the month. greater than the preceding month, primarily because of additional supervisory personnel in the canning operation. made in all reject categories except for as light increase i n the percentage of slugs rejected for off-cycle and AlSi spills. The overall yield was ation of Salt Bath Heat 'heatad Alpha Rolled Uranium Slugs" (IIW22770). No slugs were canned during the month i n accordance with this test pending completion of tests by the M e Technology Unit t o determine the minimum permissible the cycle t o insure complete new specifications is being prepared. A supplement t o the test which incorporates the 2. Process Tests and Revisions of slugs canned in accordance with HFR247-A shoved that the action of S off elite #2 flux on the AlSi canning bath had no detrimental effect on the slugs from the standpoint of ro act in ty or bonding mine if fluxing of the bath would have any beneficial effects on canning performance during rsgular production canning, Consequently a procesa test was written to detsrThe use of powdered graphite in the molds resulted in noticeable improvement of the billet surface which was evident by a marked decrease in the number of billets rsqviring surface clean up. Personnel in the Metal Preparation Section engaged in work which might be expected to result in inventions or discoveries advise that, t o the best of their knWl8dge and belief, no inventions or discoveries were made in the courso of t h e i r work during the period covered by this report. D. Events Influencina Costs The Operations U n i t worked one more Saturday than was forecasted. Alcoa caps f o r eight inch cans continue t o be of poor quality. additional 26,000 of these rejects have been returned t o the vendor during September making a total of 34,000 returned t o date.

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Metal Reparation Section.. E. Plant Engineerina and Exuansion Project Gla - 300 Area Sewage Disposal System. excessive leakage and need for further repairs. Tests on underground lines continue t o show Project C-394 - Outside Facilities and Utilities for Laboratory Area. New expansion joints uere installed in service Uses t o Library and Flles building. They w i l l be tested next month. The 8" fire and sanitary loop was tested under water pressure. age was over 200% of that allowable. cessive leakage at less than normal pressures. Sewer lines also showed explaced i n semice this month. building 384 vere removed. i s complete and they are ready for boiling out. on piping, electrical and instrument connections. Construction is Two new 1050 g p m pumps uere The ed sting service pumps In The installation of #4 and #5 boilers Work was continued Project GL81 - Equipment f o r 8" Slug Manufacture. for installing equipment in shipping vans t o unload p de ted slugs i n the 100 Areas was completed. these facilities is ready for submission. Project E 4 5 1 - Extension Underground Electric Power Distribution System, 300 Area. Excavation outside the 303 Area f o r underground lines is essentially complete. tractor ' s employees have received security clearance t o begin work i n the 303 Area in October. 3 revised project proposal t o cover 1 sufficient number of the conConstruction is approximately 5% complete. Material cost standards were issued for cans and wafers used in the unbonded canning operations. ard for processing poison slugs uas initiated in order t o more accurately control coats incurred in t h i s operation. Work was continued on inspection and testing standards. been prepared t o cover 70% of the direct labor and 95% of the 89aential materials utilized fn preparation of slugs. The us8 of a labor and mate rid standTo date standards have Improvements were made in layout of equipment f o r cap end can inspection during this period. creased capacity and reduced labor requirements. savings is incomplete. These changes have resulted in in-

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Bw125781 Metal Reparation Section A study.is being conducted t o develop a more safe and suitable method for hnnrlling crucibles i n the melt plant. The fabricatidn o f pneumatic canning jacks for a second cline i s about complete. the design of reliable gear boxes. accessory mechanism f o r slug seating. progress on the design of an improved bronze bath agitator and a new type basket f o r the canning jacks. Some difficulty has been encountered in Work vas continued on an In addition, work is in F. Simi fi cant Reports Issued Metal Preparation Section Operation affecting 305 Test Power & Maintenance Unit Plant Engineering Sem ces Unit End of Net

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Metal Preparation Section There vas one major injury, no sub-majors i n the Section during the A badge film of a metal worker assigned t o testing received im exposure of 670 mrep in five working days. gated asa Class If Radiation Incident and will be documented. cause of the incident was not definitely determined. This exposura was investiAn exposure of 320 mrep recorded by the weekly badge film of a melt plant operator can be attributed to a high exposure work schedule, oxide transfer equipment difficulty, …