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

Page 1

f o r the Atomic Energy CoOnaiSsiOn General. Electzric Company THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE

Page 2

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

Page 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS Employee Cod cations and Public Relations ........Gb - 1 through Gb-9 Maintenance and Renovation Unit.......... .Gga-1 through Gga-6 Connuunity and Residential Property Unit...... Ggc-l through Ggc-8 Water and Sewerage Utilities Unit........... Ggi-1 and Ggi-2 Plant Auxiliary Gperations Department

Page 4

Inthe &tal Preparation Section production for the month was 101 percent of official forecast and a new production record naa established. August vas 8l.L percent which vas approximately the same for July. The overall canning yield f o r The total =actor input plutonium production was 112 percent of official forecast, principally because of higher than forecast operating efficiency. uranium slug failures occurred during the month. (one not confirmed a t qonth end) and two J pieces also ruptured. Two eight inch In addition, two C material pieces The total production of Redox and T plants for the month wa8 76 percent of forecast, with that of t h e individual plants being 69 and 128 percent respectively. production was l&9 percent of forecast with parallel operation continuing throughout production were not mat, principally because of rescheduling problems involved with a change in Conmdssion requirelnsnts. Commitments f o r 234-5003 production was l.l& percent of forecast. Total design for Project W-558, Reactor Plant Modification for Increased Roduction for CA-m, 300 Area Expansion, advanced t o 15 percent completion. Detailed design for the ultrasonic bond test equipmnt Study of the fe a a ibi lft y of automatic operation of Hanford Processes is being started. Automation at W o r d m y be unusually advantageow since provision of remote control mechadsma, which is a major expense associated with automation of conventional plants, already exists fora large part of ths plant. Twenty-three informal, 4 Class I and one C l a s s I1 radiation incidents were recorded. PERSONNEL AND SERVICES There uere no major injuries recorded durlng the month of August. minor injuries during August, as compared with 310 i n July. The employee separation rate increased from .67% for July t o .85% for August. Under the new classified document control system, the first cycle of inventory lists was completed within the allotted 30-day period. Initial distribution of individual class sie d document holdings was made by the Operations Analysis Section on August 2, 19%. Every holder of classified documents received a listing bf his holdings which he uas required t o certify. chargees on a cyclical basis, once each month, for certification. In the future, distribution will be made t o all plant

Page 6

HBNFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPEELATION Plant Auxiliary Operations Department Bnployee & Public Relations Dept.

Page 9

Ple net prodaction of acceptable slugs vas 318 tons which established a new production record. A l l canning WEUJ of the 8-inch material with a yield of 81.4 percent w h i c h was approximately the This output was 101percent of the official forecast. S amt for July. The f i f t h canning line vas put into operation on August 23. Salt bath heat treating of untransformed slugs on a production b a s i s started on no unusual difficulties. A t month end these slugs were being canned by the lead dip method With 'he Zyglo bare slug inspection operation was discontinued on August 27. After two months experience with the Zyglo inspection, it was concluded that this method did not reveal defects other than those detected by inspection after pickling. 'here were no autoclave failures of regulsr metal during the month. slue failure was attributed to a faulty slug core. A total of 2,696 thorium slugs Ms canned during the month. quirements of the present program, except for 300 pieces that are t o be hot press canned at a later date. This completes the reTbe total. reactor Input plutonium production was I32 percent of the of fic is l forecast principally because of higher than forecast operating efficiency. The overall reactor operating efficiency wa6 87.4 percent as compared to 87.1 I n July and the 80.0. percent in the forecast. were water leaks that required tube testing at B and C reactors, and cracks that developed in the downcomer at B reactor. Discharges of approximately 190 and 100 tons of low and other concentration material respectively w e r e 92.0 and 448.5 percent of forecast. 'Be significantly larger than forecast discharge of higher concentration material resulted from the discharge of four inch material at B, B, and F reactors a t concentrations less than forecasted i n order t o minimize slug rupture frequency. 'he operating difficulties affecting production There were no increases in the established maximum operating levels of the reactors. ~ Two eight inch uranium slug failures occurred during the month. , C material pieces (dne not confirmed at month end) and two J pieces a l s o ruptured. In addition, two

Page 10

The total outage time result= fr w these ruptures was 112.3 hours. the nrptures were pushed during minimum scram recovery time using quickie equipHorizontal FOd operating experience continued t o be good during August with only one rod thimble at F reactor requiring replacement. *w o v a l design which reqylres no thimble was installed in Eo. 8 channel a t F leaks be- found. Several rods at C Reactor reqnired f'lushlng t o lcmove sediment accumulations resulting from normal film and corrosion buildup in order t o restore flow to normal. and 18 were removed f'rom service t o be flushed dur- the next otrtage together with Nos. 1, 6, and 13w fi ich are beginning t o show a reduced flaw. Eo. 5 rod, which had been bin- when appr at ely half way Into the reactor, was found to stick tight when the reactor is cold. found when the rod was leek tested and the thimble v i s u s l l y examined, and the rod continued t o be in limited service at mnth end. A flexible half rod of the All horizontal rods at C and B Reactors were tested for leaks, with no Xo. 9 was flushed out and returned t o service, while Nos. 3, 15, No uuusuel conditions were During August, 22 reactor scrams occurred, panellit difficulties at all reactors. tube 0961 which is in productian. t e s t service on recirculation studies. a t C Beactor was cauaed by l o w voltage which resulted when a steam siphon line solenoid burned out. one scram by a panellit trip resulting from a plugged cone screen. the W ged to these scrams vas 10.8 hours. O f these, 14 were caused by normal mee scrams at H Reactor were caused by Unexplained Bealnnnn trips caused a scram a t each of the B and D also hadD vas scraammd along with DB by the D-DEl inter tie system. me total outage Two mor process tube leak testing progrsms occurred in August. A t C Reactor, because of the high water collection rates Wch continued after the J u l y tube leak was corrected, all process tubes, horizontal rods and the thermal shield loop tubes were tested without locating any significant leaks. collection rates returned t o normal approrlnmtely 12 days later indicating either that several -or leaks were corrected or t h a t the water had been residual water from the July leak. remained high subsequent t o correcting a tube leak detected earlier in the month after testing four tubes. Stone ilsnge leaks, and two with tube wsll leaks. vas found i n conjunction wlth a slug rupture. 40 and 65 oatage hours at B and C Reactors, respectively. Operation vas resumed and A t B Reactor, all process tubes were tested when collection rates 'ihe teat program revealed six leaking tubes, four with Van AtF Reactor, a process tube leak 'Ibe tvo programs required approximately -tion of the B Reactor damcomer during an August outage revealed several cracks in the damcomer near the top supporting band. and a steel collar with bracing was installed below the band to relieve the strain at 'Ihe cracks were repaired by welding, During Angust the tritium input production was 125 percent of forecast. production w a s mainly due t o the high tlme operating efflaiency of the DR Reactor which was 99.8 percent. Qlly two J-I tubes were discharged during August, and these were due to J slug ruptures. percent a t DR and C Reactors, respectively. &put production devoted t o the prograih was 50.1 percent and 3.6

Page 11

m e thorium irradiation program-increased significantly as the result of the initial charging of an approximate total requirement of 400 tubes. 268 tubes were charged, 120 tubes at the C Reactor and 148 tubes at H. tubes of the original production test material remain in Hpile. production of the thorium program was 3.5 and 2.7 percent t o the total production for the month at the C and H Reactors. The total production of Redox and T plants for the month was 76 percent of the forecast with that of the individual plants being 69 and 1.28 percent, respectively. T plant production was entirely low g/t plutonitmt. The Redox plant operation vas affected during the month by e q d p e n t failures and flushes t o Improve decontamination performsnce. tine starting lrogust 8 were lost while the H-2 centrifuge, the E-12 agitator and 1 AF feed pttmp were replaced. cause of poor decontamination. was noted, and on August 16 a flush was started on a l l of the extraction columns and the head-end equipment. Operations were resumcd on August 20 and continued t o the month end except for a.24 hour shutdown t o replace the D-8 salt waste neutr ali zing tank agitator. Ihe total outage time for the month was hours, of which 95 hours were for flushing purposes. Poor decontamination of the uranium stream continued throughout t h e mnth. erating condition had been determiaed even mer intensive study of the flowsheet. Most of the uraniunrproduct was processed through the silica gel filter Kith some 72 tons being sent t o TBP for reprocessing. A total of five days of production On August 15 8 flush was made of the LA column bem e r the column resumd operation no improvement A t month end no direct cause of this opT plant operation wae essentially normal during the month. activated on Angust 17, increasing the m e t a l solution capacity. A third dissolver was me TBP plant production was 149.percent of the official forecast with parallel operatiat continuing throu@out the month. tinuously except for a two day shutdown for flushing of the A line and the removal of organic accumulation from the EA feed tank. nation were very satisfactory during the month. Both the A and B lines operated conWaste losses and decontami- !!!he 9production was 114 percent of the forecast. Production rates were lower then normal because only uranium from the TBP plant was available f o r processing. Intermittent foaming w a s experienced throughout the month, but continuity of aperation was not affected. The 234-5 production of shapes was 83 and large and Bppall types respectively. were produced during August and the nitrate fo.r offsite shipment was produced. ?he lower than forecast production was due principally t o rescheduling problems involved vltha change i n Caarmission requirements. vas resumed on August 16 a f t e r decontamination of the area behind the RMA line, which was grossly contaminated during the Metal turnings- fire on July 27. month end 95.4 percent of t h e material involved in the incident had been recovered. percent of that forecast for the One hundred percent of buttons for shipment . Operation of the building

Page 12

The waste evaporators were operated throughout the month w i t h volume reductions of 42 percent for B and 29.7 percent f o r T. Metal Waste removal continued satisfactorily during the month with average rates of eight tons per day being achieved even thou& two lsagle putups failed l n the East Area. . Iate in the month sluicing was started i n the lO7-m tank on an experimental b a s i s t o determine whether the 2.5 year old material can be processed i n parallel operation. Evaluation of this in TBP haa not yet been made. 'Ehe Tritium Extraction Line ccmqleted produced 109 percent nf its qusrterly down August 6 and placed in a Standby its program early in August after having forecast production. Ime line was shut condition 88 reqpested by the Commission. Mechanical Engineer, Plant Engineering Section was accepted and became effective July 30, 19%. Total QIP Roll August 1, 1954 Total On Roll Angust 3, 19% m e s not include intra-department transfers.

Page 13

All persons engaged in work that might reasonably be expected t o result in inventions o r discoveries advise tw, t o the best of their knowledge and belief, no inventions o r discoveries were made in the course of their work during t h e period covered by this report except as listed below. therein covered by this report, notebook recoFds, if any, kept in the course of their work have been eYnmincd for possible inventions Such persons further advise that, for the period A. F. Cranmcr, Reactor Section “Use of Tublar Dummies In Place.. of Perforated Dummies”

Page 21

Them were no c-s i n responsibility durFng this period. 1. Statistics Auguet July to Date Acceptable Pieces Canned (8")(Tone)Gross Acceptable Pieces Canned (8")(Tone)Net Total Acceptable Pieces Canned (Tons)Gross Total Acceptable Pieces Canned (Tons)Net Acceptable Pieces Canned ( 4 of Forecast) IJ Slugs Canned (pieces) Special Request (man hours) 305 Routine Tests (man hours) 305 Special Teste (man hours) Average Steam Generated (M lbs/hr) 23.7 18.9 Maximum Steam Generated (M lbs/hr) 53.0 29.0 Total Steam Generated (M lbs) 17,500 14,100 Sanitary Water from 3000 A r e a (Million gals.) 61.0 ~ 50.7 Total Uater fran 3000 Area Average Rate (GPM) 1367 1137 Note: Inasmuch as canning of four-inch material on a-production basis has been completed, these statistics have been deleted. Any future four-inch production will be shovn as a special pl'oduct.

Page 22

The net production of acceptable normal uranium slugs reached a new high of 318 tom f o r the month. the previous month. and all lims operated with relief throughout the month. Salt bsth bat treating af untransformed slugs on a production basis started on with no unusual difficulties. There was no significant change in canning yield from The fifth canning line was put into operation on August 23 A t month-end these slugs vem being canned by the lead ctip msthod The Zyglo bare slug inspection aperation vas discontinued on A u g u s t 27. two months' experience …