Monthly Report Hanford Atomic Products Operation for March 1954 (Deleted)

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PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED 0 Hw 3 1 2 6 7 - j d g L BOX NO. h PIDNTKLY REPORT FOLDER hl\p HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION DELETIONS Ccmpiled Eiy Operated for the Atomic Energy Commission General Electric Company AVAIL ABL ETHIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED ONTXE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE Route T o Read By Date

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Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Commission

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TBBLE OF CONTENTS Employee and Public Relations Department .............G - 1 through G-98 Plant Auxiliary Op erations Department

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In the Metal Preparation Section production of narmal charge material for the month w a s 90 percent of forecast. utilization of manpower for the P-10 program. Lower than forecasted production was due t o the heavy The overall canning yield was 78.2 The total reactor input production o f plutonium during March was 93.5 percent of forecast. The reactor output production w a s 78 percent of forecast. vag, A total of 27 ruptures occurred during March including 21 normal uranium slug failures, f i v e "J" pieces and one *Cw piece. The Redox production w a s 136.6 percent of forecast for the month and T Plant production was 128 percent f o r the month. operations were virtually uninterrupted for the entire month Kith production being limited o n l y by the availability of virgin feed. Total plutonium production w a s 135.2 TBP production was u3.5 percent of the monthly forecast. Parallel The UO facility production was 124.5 percent of forecast. The overall commitmeds f o r 3 3&-5 production were met. Design of t h e Hot Semiworks Conversion, CA-513-D vas advanced t o 98 cercent comple tion during the month. Detail design of the 300 Area Expansion, CA-Slk, was advanced t o 84 percent completion during the month, even though t h e emphasis was on the 3X Program. Increased Production was advanced t o 11.7 percent completion. Overall design on -558, Reactor Plant Modification f o r Scope design of CC-575, Hanford 3X Program, P-10 Extraction Facilities, was advanced t o 15 percent completicm during March. CG-57&, Hanford 3-X Program, P-10 Irradiation, w a s received ddring t h e month and scope design was advanced t o 66 percent completion. Hanford 3X Program - 300 Area is 8L percent complete. Twenty-four informal, six c l a s s I, and two Class I1 radiation incidents were Authorization f o r design on Overall design for CG-573, There were no major injuries during the month. The employee separation rate for March w a s .52 percent the same as it was f o r Three sub-major injuries were Minor injuries increased slightly from 252 (adjusted figure) t o 313. The t o t a l number of housing applications pending is 253.

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General Manager, Atomic Products Division ............F.K. McCune Manager, Emplayee and Public Relations .............C.N. Gross Manager, Plant Auxiliary Operations ...............H. D. Middel

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HQlFQRD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPEEUTION Plant & dfarg Operations Dep~rtment-I Adnddstration Main. Service Real Estate Services

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!5e net production of acceptable slugs v ~ 8222 tons which was 90 percent of the official forecast for the mnth and 86 percent for the quarter. Lower than forecasted prodi.action was &tu t o the heavy utilization of manpower for the P-10 work. A total of 194 tom was canned ae eight-inch slugs and the remaining 28 tons as compared with 68.1 percent f o r February. imgrovement achieved principally by the changing from cast iron to silicon carbide crucibles and t o a reduction in poor bond and marred surface rejects. Ihe overall C- yield was 78.2 percent as lbe increased yield was due t o quality B e r e was one autoclave failure during the month. The cannhg of the regular uranium pieces wae changed t o the lead dip process on March 15, and this g m e d u r e gained approximately six percent in production due p rh fir i ly to a reduction in the C- time cycle. me fourth uranium canning line was put into operation on March 29. Ibe canning of the &chad uranium aluminum a l l o y fuel pieces and the target slugs continued a t a high Fate with yields of 81.2 percent and 69.3 percent, respectively. A total of 10,936 fuel pieces and 13,704 target pieces were canned during March. 'Ihe total reactor input plutonium production was 93.5 percent of the official forecast for the month and 102 percent for the quarter. efficiency f o r the mnth was 75.7 percent. principally to the campletion of the venturi work at B, the failure of the discharge elevator a t F, and outerges at all reactors associated with 2'7 ruptured slugs, one of which resulted in excessive downtime a t B Area when during tube removal several slugs became lodged in pigtails. The established maximrlm operating levels (excluding enrichment burnout) were increased a t o t a l of 169 MU during March as follows: B - 85, C - 17 (Pu and J-n), B reactor, the increase was attributed to the increased cooling flow (7,500 gpm) permitted by the installation of venturis and double orifices; a t DR reactor t o increased J-Btube powers i n the center of the reactor following the discharge of the remaining uranium tubes within the J-N loading pattern; a t F reactor t o improved flattening flexibility attained by the replacement of thorium with P-10 authorization t o increase graphite temperature by 30° C. 'he overall reactor operating I h e law operating efficiency was due at D reactor t o improved flattening and atH reactor t o temporary The program of changing goal concentrations f o r the irradiation of uranium continued essentially as planned i n February with the four-inch metal t o be discharged

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af previous goal concentration, a portion of the eightlfnch metal being discharged at one-third the previous g o a l concentration and the balance of eightinch metal. t o be discharged at some concentration approaching 120 percent of the former concentration as determined by the ruptured slug r a t e and feed materlal requirements f o r the Separations Plants. discharged according t o the above concentrations were: l o w - 142, A t o t a l of 27 ruptures occurred durFng March includbg 21 no& uranium slugs, five "J" pieces, and one "C" piece. material and 1 3 were eight-inch material. '&e total outage time required for the removal of these ruptures was 640 hours. A t the B reactor a total of 2Q2 hours w a s charged t o the discharge of a stuck rupture and the subsequcnt remval o f metal pieces that had become lodged inthe rem pigtails during tube removal. The incident occurred on Msrch 8, and t h e reactor resumed operations m additional 66 tubes of Simonds rolled slugs charged In September 1953 were discharged durhg March. The eleven failures occurring atC reactor i n March were predominantly in tubes which were approximately at 600 MWD/T concentration. Of the uranium slugs eight were four-inch Dus t o the rupture experience at the C reactor during Febmary Ihe P-10 program continued, with the production being A t the DR reactor a t o t a l of 445 J-I (20 pair) tubes were charged, and 333 J-N tube8 a total of 70 J-Xtubes were charged aa m e P-10 lofuiing program. Inurement of the C reactor Thirteen 5-4 (thorium) tubes were charged a t the H reactor on krch 15 on atest basis t o investigate the feasibility of Large scale thorium imadiation and t o obtain Information on the corrosion factors. A chcmicd analpis of the graphite from water tube chapncl 1776 in F reactor confinncd the presence of boron in amounts up t o 600 ppm as a r e s u l t of the rod leak reported fx February. %e unbslsncing effect of this poison has been compensated by appropriate flattening changes vhich have permitted resumpt$on of normal power On Merch 19, a 29-hou outage of the F reactor vas scheduled t o repair leaks in the effluent water llne between the reactor and the retention basin. Rro process tube leaks, one a t the H reactor and one at the B reactor, occurred during t h e month. Both leaks were attrlbuted t o slug failures. During an outage on bLuch 28 atF reactor t o investigate a suspected mpture, failure of the 8ynchronizFng ahait between the two discharge elevator drive motors caused one end t o drap approximately five feet.A total of 38 hours was required t o complete During March, twenty-four reactor scrams occurred. Sixteen were attributable t o the norma;l psa ell it system difficulties, three t o film buildup, three t o water re-

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Total outage time for all scrams was 39.5 hours. B e Redox production wae 136.8 percent of the official forecast for the month and 91.4 percent f o r the quarter. and 153 percent f o r the q-er. the month and 101.8 percent f o r the quarter. 'F Plant production vaa 128 perceat f o r the month Total plutonium production was 135.2 percent f o r !he Redox Plant discontinued operations on March 4 t o replace the H-2 centrifuge which had fUed on February 21. mch 6. Operation VLU resumed on the same dsy and aontinucd at a 7 ton per day rate u n t i l lkrch 1 5 when near-flooding conditions in the columns resulted in a . three hour shutdown for equipment fluehing. at 7.5 tons per dsy and maintained until m ch 28. failure of the 60 ton crane --hoist resulted in suspension of the charging a p - crane decontamination and electrical merintensace. Bst all ation of the new unit WELS completed on After startup the rate was established On Nwch 24 an electrical ' h e exbraction batteries were operated until the metal feed solution was 'Ihe plant continued down for the remainder of the month for Evaluation of t o t a l refluxing in the oxidizer tower of the stack gases continued throqhout the month. ruthenium emisaion problem over non-reflux type--. The t e s t will continue in order t o obtain additional data. Tu date, the results show LW apgrecriable improvement i n the The TBP Flant production was 143.5 percent of the m n t h l y forecast and 157.6 percent of the quarter forecast. the entire month with the production being limited only by the availability of virgin out the month a t rates vsrging from 3to 4.5 tons while the B Line operated at rates from 4 to-8.5 tons per dag. on Mm-ch 9 and a e i & f i c a a t reduction in waste losses was effected without any deleterious effect on decontamination. percent of fl m he et resulting in a mare highly concentrated RC column UNH product and materially reducing the load on the primary concentrator a t the U03 Plant. capauity test basis, using the heated extractant, the B Line achieved an instantaneous rate of 8.5 tons on Wrch 29. Parallel operations were virtually uninterrupted for "he A Line operated through-The average dally operating rate was 7.2 tons. Heated extractant (RCX) was introduced into the RC column Also, the extractant flow rate was reduced t o 60 'he U? facility production was 124.5 percent of the forecast. 12 tons per day was achieved f o r the month. and a total of 19 tubes were sealed. An average rate of The ID-1 evaporator failed on March 8 Quarterly output was U.3 percent of forecast. 'he T Plant processed a total of 66 dr g in ms and 21 rework runs during the month. The 234-5 commitment of shapes and buttons w a s attained. duction f o r shipment was also produced.

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The waste evaporators-aperated throughout the month with column reductions of 31.9 pcrcent at B and 26.1 percent at T. The feed for both evaporators Metal remaved .from the waste storage tanka continued at the TX and BX farms. In addition, small vel-s of material were removed from near-empty tanks Fn the C and U farms. There were no I!iagle pump failures durlng March. Essentially all of P-10 feed during the month was "N" material and product purity averaged .. After processing all avaFlable feed materiel, the Metal Brtraction Line was shut down on March 21 f o r extensive pretcntive maintenance. Operations were resumed on Merch 26 vhen feed material agaln becaam available, and operations continued uninterrupted for the balance of the month. Total on Roll M m h I, 1954

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AU persons engaged in work that might reasonably be expected t o result in Inventions or discoveries advise that, t o the best of their howledge and belief, no inventions or discoveries vere made in'the course of t h e i r work during the period covered by this report except as listed below, the p&od therein covered by this report, notebook records, if any, kept in the course of their work have been examined for possible Such persons further advise that, f o r Sect ion Transients on Mh~immnStart-Ups" J. 0. At tans s,) Section for operation and maintenance across a

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Bletml Preppratirnr Section The production facilities were converted t o the lead dip process on U vas put into taperetion on March 29 and it is There waa a m eight-inch autoclave failure which is believed t o have been caud by aicaefective capl caaee-ume *aced t o coated cast iron crucibles i n the canning furnaces. After replacing these with silicon - c abide crucibles, the re*ct rate Ekplmt far deterriniag the maaim content of fuel slugs ha6 been developed by the Chemistry U n i t of the Engineering Department and turned

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m a almost complete at month end and pre- results indicate j9miL-difficulties were exparienced from poor bonds, lbzmal slug producticm vas ten percent below the forecast as a result of die - personnel t o the P-10 operation. The camning line operating efficiencies remained a t a high level. of A eecond production welder was modified and installed in 3 0 3 4 building The electronic circuits aS the fwo ulkmaecmic testing machines were overhauled and strengthened and each was equipped witha new ball type track vhich shuuld improve its dependability.

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Drrfng tha m a t h one frrrpace in the 3 3 bailding failed and tvo rebuilt t o be put in standby condition. result in inrsaticma or dlmzovertes have warted that no inven€ions or d i w e s were made during the period covered by this report. unit cost is expected t o decrease about -01per unit because of higher prahdhm and improved efficiency. Iwerial. Var i urch latter part of the month are expected t o decrease material costs by …