Hanford Works Monthly Report for June 1951 (Deleted)

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Operated for the ;,tomic Energy Cods sion General Electric Company THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE

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Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory Knolls Atodc Power Laboratory ' Hanford Operatiom Office Hanford Operations Office

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pa vision.................. LO Plant Vtilities & Maintenance Divisions Purchasing and Stores Livisions ............ 284 Ellployee and Community Relations Civision .e.... 305 Commercial and Other Prooertv Division ..... 380 Ehgineering and Cmstruction Divisions ............ 389 Project and deh ted Personnel .... lrlo

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A tatad of 6L.1 tons of matel w a s discharged a t thewgod value during the month. The special request Fogram required approximately 365 man hours f o r the month. TMrty-ono tubes of spacial request material other than Chedcd 68-56 were charged and discharged and 10 ciuks containing irradiated aaxples were shipped off site. An additional 2s macl hours were required f o r routine work on Percent of forecaat production input made was 106.b. A total of six ruptured slugs (fim normal uranium and one P-IO-A) requfred 111 hours dam t i m e f o r discharg-• Percent af forecasted production discharged 96.L. The average timer operated efficiency yas 92.1 percent. A total of 85 tons was canned at a yield of 76.5 percent. This represented 9h.L percent of forecast. The melt plant prodwed 21r tons ata record yfdd of 91.5 percent. TQe solid metal yield was also a new record a t 95.7 percent. A total of 97 charges plus two acid washes was started i n the canyon buil-s, which amounts t o 102.1 percent of the scheduled production. The concentration buildings completed lob regular runa plus two acid washes nrld e i g h t master A t o t a l of 106 re.@.ar runs and two acid washes was co:xpleted through the isolation building, representing 104.3 percent of forecast, cooling time was 44 days and the minimum was 42 dqs. completed charges waa 98.1 percent. Plant Utfflties and Aaintenance-. Divisions Constnaction Completion Iliotice, effective June 1, 1951, was issued on Project C-3774, New Instrument Xaintenance axid Development W l ding, 3m Area. The average purity of The electric power demands for the month of June were as followa: One unscheduled interruption of production resulted from a breaker failure on one bank of four pumps at 1904 on June 12. Pile stwt up was delayed one hour and eizhteen minutes. Six emergency p i l e shutc?owr,s, because of ruptured and stuck slugs, required B vision st services t o remove slugs and make necessary tube replacements and A copy of the identiiication key for the gallery wall connectors for Building ere now 95 percent complete aid w i l l be issued during the month o f July. The lubrication instructions for this ?Uilding

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TheoreticaL studies were =de of the use of enriched uranium t o increase the plutonium output of the Eanford Pile. An exponential p i l e Vith an eight-inch lattice spacing has been constructed and expemdmental mecrsurementa of buckling initiated. Research and development sk dies of shielding development, xenon cross section measurement, and czdtical mass detmninztions have been continued according Small-scale pile t e a t s of dichromate-he cootinp water were initiated. T!m first reliable infarmation on the temperature coefficient of radiation damage of ,-Ute was obtained as a part of our continuing program of Heat transfer and mechanical development studies w e r e directed particularly towards investigations of components for the C Pile during the past month. A molten eutectic mixture of sodium and potassium carbonates i s being studied for use as a l i c p i d medium for the beta phase tramfornation of machined A pragraa for examination of normnlly discharged, irradiated fuel and poison elements from the H-IO 10- waa started. The program f o r establishing impruvhd inspection standards and procedures for uranium canning la,cmt$nuing. C i s includes studies on non-destructive testing methods, autoclaving, and thcnnal cycling, canning bath temperatures, and welding procedures. During June, 2l& slugs ware extracfed i n seven runs in the tritium extraction mtal line. The average product purity w a s 94 pzrcent d t h 0.07 percent nonAbout two-thirds of the total time of the P-10 group was spent in shutdown work and oxperimenta studics which were necessary t o permit the production run in the metd line which will take plm e the first two -*e& in July. The 2562-H cknncl, fYom which a ruptured slug was remotred with difficulty, was borescoped and the sq hit e blocks wcrc found t o be broken from the poht where the rupture occurrsd t o the re= gunbarrcl. Separations Technolog Division The ondssion of extraction wzste rework at T & B Plants resulted in slight Lnprovements in de cont daz tion factor. HisccUmeous product wastes from 234-5 Suilding wcre recycled to c tip Building with

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tion Building succcssfullp rcduccd the radioactivity of PR cam. Building, product of satisfactory purity was produced by thc direct -0fluorination of plutunitam percaide from the Isolstion process. Prcparatfons for conversion of production h r n the :ladel 110 t o the ikdel130 Were essenIn Rcdaoc and TBP procees development, Technical k u a l preparation has continued t o 88 pcruont completion of the Redax If mut it .and &O pcrcent completion of the TBP bud.A group of "Sn Division sup eMs or s and 25 operators started a h m c k trainfng period in 321 Building. Production tcstfng of the R, I.) under the guidance of Technical personnel, The first "Run Plan" f o r 'cold' testing of the integrated Redox operation with uranium solutions Was issued for conrment. The Hot SemiJJorlcswas carried t o 11,s percent completion. In t h e research laboratory a study made of alternate organic phosphates indicated TBP t o be the best sc lect ion for the extraction of uranium and steps t o the k c x process improvcd the decont&atfon factors only by thc amount of removal achicvcd by the head-end step, Iodinc entering the Redax IA Column will be rcdected, t o the extent of 99$, into thc ZAW waste stram. Laboratory studies have pointed up the feasibility of rzcycling 234-5 slag and crucible solutions i n any proportion t o the redox IIA column, Studics of the percd.de coupling of Redox product solutions t o the 23b-5 process indicate thata product of adequate purity may bo produced with ci th cr onc or two pcrwdde strikes. small scalt emplaying a sulftar "boostar" as a replacement for iodine, The feasibility of recycling 231r-S caustic scrubbcr solutions t o t h e Concentration Building f o r the recwcry of plutonium was demonstrnted fn tho laboratory, Studies of the coupling of ruthenium and simonlum remmd. hecd-cnd Grcator than 95% roduction yields were obtained on a hvelopment studies directed toward the improvcmcnt of silver reactor performance for the mod of iodine have indicated that thc three plmt rcactors operating below 99% efficienty have been a t a tcmpcrc;turc above ths melting point of silver nitra to for extended periods of time. atfng" the silver nitrate on these rc-actors arc being studied. Technical Sorrrices his ion Exceptions t o the Xay 2 acceptance of Building 2 2 2 4 , tile new Redox Analytical and Plant Assistance Laboratory, a r e being completed rapidly, and preparations are under way for the Phase I1 construction in this building. The Laboratory SeXTlces group is following this work while initiating the operating functions f o r which they are responsible. Full attention is being given t o the design and fabrication of special laboratory and multicurie cell equipment for this building by the Technical design and shops groups, Placement of the n e t d sictin2 panels on the iiechanical Development Building is in progress by the Dk Steel Suilding Company, Phase I1 construction scope and c o s t esti,naTes has been completed, and a supplemental proposal (C-436, Part IIX) iu being prepared t o recpest the $158,000 i n additional funds now estimated t o be required for the completion of this Works Laborztory facility, Meanwhile, resolution of the

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The lump sum construction subcontract for the iiadiochelnfstry Building w a s awarded t o the Sound Construction b Engineering Company on their low bid of $3,7&213. Site grading i n preparation for actual construction was under way A.E.C. Mrectlvs HW-191, lodipication 5 , was received authorizing a new total of $L,760,900 for the design and construction of the not Plan & UtUties for the Narks Laboratory Area. for the constrvction of the Radiometallurgy Building in the lJorks Laboratory Area. However, the c a l l for bids coverinq this work is being temporarfly delayed until m o r e complete information is available on the probable coat of other major buildin&s in this program (notably, pile Technology). The Chas. T. Main Company, architect-engineer, is working on final changes i n the drawings and specificatfons covering the Pile Technolog Building. assemblies will. be prepared i date ly upon completion of this work. Decision was reached t o proceed wlth the call for construction bids on the Librsry Q RUes Building, and E & C are preparing final prints and specifications f o r the bid assenblies, A project proposal (C-&S8) covering the ultimate conversion of Building 3702, 3% ha, for use as the bb oratory Supply Building in the Works Laboratory Area was a moved by the A 3t B Committee and forwarded t o the A.E.C. The Fess of sexvice work i n support of the Technical development programs and new building equipment needs made it necessary to continue the followlng groups on a six-day work week; *&pment Design, Technical Shops, IBM Computing Laboratory, and t h e Contact %ginLers engaged i n new Laboratory Planning. Arrangements were completed for transfer of the 3uilding 101 Shops craft personnel and craL't supervision from Technical t o the Irutrument Division o f Manufacturing effective July 1. Overall responsibility f o r these ahops, and for 101 Area senrice a dah ht ration, continues in the kgineering Section of the Technical SerPicea Giviaion, The a thematic s Jection participated ina series of meetings held with visitors of the ;resent calculation was discussed completely. Additional conr'innatorg calculations areto be made, and some changes in basis may be rnade. Assurance has been Tiven t h a t the new GE imS spectrometer on order f o r P-10 analyses will be shi;?ped during the first week i n July, instrument expcrienmd by the C-ener-1 Lngineerirq Lcboratory have been eliminated t o the extent that the instrument mcets purchase specifications. Ten different samples of Isolation Building product solution (AT), representing MWD levels from 50 t o 600, have been analyzed f o r Fb2hO by meam of spontaneous curve is obtained from a plot of the 2b0 content versus the power level, calculated from pilc data. 122 concerning the routine krypton calculations performed semi-monthly. The accuracy Difficulties with the Good precision is indicated by the fact that a continuous 210 contents a t 300 and 530 MWD are, and 7.5% lower than those

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Application of a diffcrentid method tothe photometric determination of copper in bromc bath yielded J method with a rclatdve precision of 3a@that req*es less than 15 ndnutea. Continued imrk with couloraetric titratfan procedures has involved detennimtions of uranium in ura niu wd ~J.slugs that are t o be anployad for calibration of 305 tat pile meammmmt~. A marked bias in previous rcsulta vas found t o result from impurities in reagents, design of the c a l m l reference electrodes and the interference of s m a l l amounts of stopcock greaae. Elimination of these errors from tho autarartio titration procedure led to as ot of accurate and precise results k5at are in close agre-nt with analyses obtained a t Oak Ridge on the stme s01utio11~. Work has been complctcd in t h e 234-5 BuiUing Laboratory on thc method and equipment dmlopment f o r recovery of roughly two large unita of plutonium from a nay t icd wastcs for subsequent rcturn t o the p r ~ cesa. @mating ptrsonnel i n the labOr8tOrg ham been trained and are cur rc ntu processing about 25 s d units An adtrams in the science of alpha counting h3s bean roaliaed through the use of a film microscope t o masure t h e aperture of t+ vacuum chamber on the Simpson Proportional Alpha Caunter. Flzts on the tapers of 0.301 inch o r distortions of tk aperturo in the amount of O.ooo1 inch sensibly affect the geometry calibration of this instrument which i n turn I s used t o calibrate oll alpha couuters on tho plant. inch i n the ,-onstruction of the 3pertura can be assured. Recalibration of all counters and 8e-evaluation of- the isotope correction am plannod as a result of this work. Trie tl m nom is employed as the color development of plutonium per df3y. By usfng thc microscope, rrccuracics of 0.0001 The Engineering and Construction Divisions are currently worldng on 122 projccts; 62 of theso projects have authorized ftmds i n CXCCEJ of $20,003 each. other projects haw! been authriacd funds of from Four projects, havtng a t o b d cstimatod cost of 525,690,000, were completed this month. They were: construction provide adequate security fence protection around exclusion areas, and reduction of excessive mintenance cost due t o failure of the original fence which had been supported on 4 x 4 untreated posts. will permit oFeratfon 2ersonnel t o perform tkeir duties i n the melt plant, chip recovery ar,d rod straightening areas i n a.atmosphere with greatly reduced concentration of contamination a d may &e it possible for them t o perform most, if not a l l , operatiocs, without respirators; and thus, increase the efficiency of the workmen, as well as t h e i r safety. permit recovery of valuable metal aid oxides now escaping.It will also

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C-337 - New fnstnrment Naintsnance and Development Building, 300 Area -The advantage gainad by t h i s construction is in the concentration of, and prodding for, adequate facilities required by the Instrument Division f o r t h e Pepair, calibration and general maintenance of process and analytical instnm#r?ts used at Himford 'rlorks. This will enable more economical and efficient operation, impm employees morale 85 well i ~ sprotect the large Contract negotiaffons uere coneluded June 29 with crtkfnson-Jones hnstructloa Cornpan$ for the ObMtructIon of the 1004 Facility and the conk act was rotiifed by the Canrmission as Modification 37 t o G-133. c8rt.ai.n faciUt$es had been previously carried on under letter I%diflcation Astue uas wode top rd de the A.E.C. with data for two new Reactor Areas. Completed during June were 16 cantract item (0 lump sum contracts, 7 lunrp sum modifications and 1 CPFF modification) tot- an increase in business of &9,347,828.00 over the preceding month. Also completed one modification …