Hanford Works Monthly Report for March 1951 (Deleted)

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AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED

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Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory Knolls Atomic Power m oratory Hanford Operations Office

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Plant Utilities & ikintename Divisions Pile Technology Division .................... 103 Technical Services Civision .................. 140 General Accounting Division ..................... 205 Plant Security and Services r ji visions............... 230 Purchasing and Stores Divisions ................... 266 Employee and Community Relations Division .............. 283 Municipal. Real Estate and General jerri ces Divisions 316 Public dorks Division ................... 329 Parks and Recreation .................... 333 Public Safety ri vision.................. 351 Real Estate Diirisions ..................... 353 Hausing and :-e3 Esk tek in tem n ce Division 3541

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WOilD VORKS MONTHLY REPORT A total of 82 tons of metal was discharged during the month atthe goal value, The special request program required 220 man hours of P Division time. Ten tubes of special request material were charged i n t o t h e piles, 9 tubes were discharged, and 22,casks containing irradiated material were shipped off site. An additional 180 man hours were required for charging, discharging, and shipping A new time operated efficiency record of 94.0 percent f o r five pi'les was achieved during the month even though there were 3b hours unproductive pile down time due toa planned electrical outage on Yfch 7, and a ruptured P-10 I Pile production exceeded t h a t of any previous month by 20 percent. maximum operating levels for all piles amounted t o 179 Si detailed as follows: - A total of 90 tons of acceptable slugs was canned at a yield of 91.6 percento -The machining yield was 80.0 percent. The melt plant produced 16 tons of billets at a record yield of 88.3 percent aqd a solid metal yield of 93.9 303 Area for t h e du Pont Company. IA t o t a l of 1 2 0 3 man hours of overtime work was done by t h e P Division A total of la charges was started in the canyon buildings, exceeds the previous high by 8 charges and a new single area record of 75 charges started was also established inT Plant, concentration buildings a l s o represent a new record at 4 0 regular runs Plus 2 acid washes and 5 P-11 runs. The previous high was 132 charges completed. T!?e T Plant total of 73 regular charges ~ l u s1 acid wash completed is a new A record total of lh9 runs were completed i n the isolation building, which included 2 acid washes and 11 special runs. exceeded previous records by approximately 5 percent. The average cooling time was 60 days with the m i n i m u m cooling period for dissolved material being 44 days. The total material bottled The average purity of completed charges was

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Plant Utilities and Haintenance Mvisions The electric power demands declining from the January for t h e month were: a t a new all time high. The Village peak demand i s There was a planned electrical outage on March 7, 1951 fog the comPletion of the 230 KV temporary by-pass l i n e and other work associated with t h e 251 Work on revising the pre Mary specifications for our industrial lubricants Before this can be done, however, a procedure must be developed t o handle the samples that will be submitted by the oil companies for approval of tne samples. These are now ready for distribution t o interested oil compdeso This procedure must cover the laboratory and field testing A t t h e request of the Atomic Energy Commission, the Transpodation Division presented a program on the ''Operation of the Transportation Division a t Hanford Worksvf, at the March 9 meeting i n EZichlvld of t h e Inter-Agency Motor Equipmcnt Advisory Committee of Oregon and iiashington. Agencies represented included BPA, General Services Administration, Fish and Wild L i f e Service, ,--atomic Energy Commission, beau of Reclamation, Corps o f Engineers, Bureau Bureau of Animal Industry, sichland, and vicinity, and prcsentation of briefs on Hanford Works Trmsporta- - tion operations, costs, savings prog rm,et cetera. The program included tours of Richland, North Pile Technolog;. Division IProblems h connection with the design of the C P i l e have requircd the diversion of effort from some of the longer range programs. Studies undertaken include shielding chmges, ball third safcty design, coring of graphite channels, i m - proved and increased test facilities, provisions for increased water flow, and use of enriched uranium. The programs of intrestigation of plutonium critical mss, pile lizttice design, radiation shielding development, Xenon Cross section, and best p i l e merssuremcnts were continued normally during the month, Predictcd long term reactivity chmges inthe H-10 load indicate that losses during the next three months can be compensated by charging naturzl Uranium without t h e use of additional U-235, prepared by the I B M Computing Group 'are cxpectcd t o cnablc more accurate pile reactivity control and balances. Improved xenon poison vtalucs from tables

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Xaswemcnts of graphitc s?mplss cxposcd i n the F Pile indic at ca burnout rate of gr qh it e radietion damgc i s being cxpmded although hmdicopped by a shortage of laboratory fcc il it ios. A rcvi,cw of the trans i cnt wotm flow requircmcnts for the C Pile was completed ada similar study for the opcrcting piles is under way, laboratory cquipmcnt f o r the water quzlity study w 2 s continued. Seven in-pile cxpcrimcnts were under irradiation during t h e month, two f o r plant assistance and fi vc for off - site reactor development. Plat cssistsnce studies of urm i um machining and canning directcd towards improved slugs wcre continucd, metcllurgy laboratory result cd in widespread contminztion. In s tz ll ation of flow Exmination of a ruptured slug in the radioTritium production was limited to mc rim zn tal runs, -Zests of the 211-metal proc?uction lins with in sc ti vc gaszs progrcsscd sz tis f z ctor i ly during the month. Scpvations Tcchnolos Division - A niw systcm of matb.rial account&ility, which is expccted torc sul tin more fid rly correct yiel2s and mctcria biLmccs, was in it i at cd in the ScpzratiOnS plants during the p a s t month. Production tcsting of rcduced Bismuth Phosphctc process voluiics has been carried to a 30% volumc reduction without sign if i cmt hold-ups of product I n t h c Isol.1tion Building nutschcs hcvc made it necessa-Y hydrofluorinstion of ox do teF rz ci pita tes in Building 234-5 has bcen successfully co@cted and thc new proccdurc is bcing given a trial i n the plant. Reccnt difficulties with high lmthanum contcnt of plutonium castings wcre correctcd by ch,mging t h e addition of Chcmica.3. 70-58 back t o Casting from i n Rcdax and TBP process dcvclopmcnt, Technicd Emual prep anti on hcs continucd t o 6% complotion of thc Redox Mmud rad I& complction of the TBP %md. The six-wkoks operations tr zi ning cssignmnt i n 3uilding 321, and c sccond &roup i s now being trxincd. bcen carried tothe point whcrc the design of the Pura colunps c2n now be scoped. StiLrtcd during thc month, with excavation f o r tha Hot Process Building Thc propam of assistancc t o OWL Pur= process dcsign has

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In the research laboratory, studies have been continued on the use of scavengers for the decontamination of Sismuth Phosphate first cycle supernatLYts, concent ration of Redox final product solution and its coupling tone tal production, and the recovery of plutonium from 231r-S slag and crucible wastes. Efforts are being macle t o improve the methods of scavenger separation i n the Redox process. Additional fundanrental investigations have been carried out i n the stability of TSP, pulse column mechanisms, and the effects of head-end treatment on Pur= process decontamination. Supporting studies f o r the P-11 Critical Mass Project have also been carried out. Further Study of t h e proposed skull recovery process has uncovered improved methods of skull dissolution. cycles required t o obtain the required plutonium metal purity has succeeded in narrowing impurity problems t o only a few elements. sulphur instead of iodine used as the booster have given yields only slightly below those normally obtained with iodine. axalate destruction for supernatant recovery is being carried out-in the Continued investigation of t h e number of peroxide Laboraury Reductions with Further investigation of methods of The program of imrestigation of t h e concentrations of ammonia and oxides of nitrogen in t h e Dissolver off-gas during the change-over from coating removal 60 metal dissolution has indicated that the previously suspected formation Of h spot check of the Plant during t h e month indicated an efficiency of 99.9%. Silver Reactor and Fiber gla filter is extremely unlikely, removal efficiency of the 4-5L Silver Reactor at B Technical Services Division A n automat IC recorder has been installed on theamass spectrometer used for P-10 process smple analyses, and has been used i n the routine analysis of 309 ,sap les during the month. &give more info m tion and ina recorded form. reveals thzt about 2% methane is present i n out-gas samples but not i n other -the mass spectrometer head t o allow stu?y of direct in-line andys es and has given promising results. Although not offering greater speed, the unit does A review of the completed spectra A 50 foot section of coppcr tubing hzs been connected t o Mass spectrometers for the isotopic analysis of uranium oxide recovered from the Redox and Metal Recovery Processes a r e being ordered. specifications wcre altered to allow delivery of these instruments by A series of six plutonium nitrate solutions has been andyzed for Pu2ko with the recently install cd spontaneous fission counter. reasonable agreement with those calculntcd by the P i l e Physics Scction, and with expcrimcntd data obtained inthc 231 Building hb oratory indicating the presenthly c ql oye d isotopic correction factors t o bc in error r Thc values obtained are i n practice for thc dctermimtion 02 impmitics i n plutonium met& pracsdurc is still difficlrlt and subjcct to unc crt dn tics, more clccUate results Will bc obtcincd by the usi: of opthum conditions of spectrographic Cxposurc w d by thc use or’ rsfcrcnce st a dards that have bcen processed through the ent irc analytical proccdure.

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An investigation of infrared absorption techniques for the determination of carbon monoxide has yielded an accurate procedure that will prove t o be of assistance to Pile Technology Division projects for the study o f in-pile experiments on graphite reactions and the - rate of graphite burn-out. Observations of value t o in-line monitoring include a method for naking airtight seals of cell windows on the absorption cell and the effect of inert gases on the absorption by carbon mon d de. Final design of the Radiochemistry Building w a s completed by t h e Leland S. Rosener Company on schedule, aid most questions regarding it had been resolved monthend. An A.E.C. directive modification was received, authorizing the construction of this building and raising to 'h,68O,OOO the total expenditure Close field liaison continued on the new Redox Analytical & Plant Assistance Laboratory, constmction of which was 95% complete by month-end.- Several special tongs and a slave-type manipulator were designed for the multicurie cells' i n this new laboratory, and these are being fabricated in t h e Technical Shops. Development of Junior Cave and gloved bax accessories for use in this building also was continued. authorized for this new Works Laboratory facility. c A.E.C. Directive No, HW-219 was modified t o cover t h e design and construction of the rescoped Library and F i l e s Suilding. The design of this facility was subcontracted t o the C. Tm Main Compmy (of Boston), which A-E firm also has the Pile Technology Building. facilities. Good design progress was reported for both of these The 9iX Steel Company (2f Spokzne) broke ground on the Phase I construction of the Hechanical Developmeiit Building i n the Works Laboratory Area, and made good Gr ogress on the footings for this prefabricated steel structure. Apart2 :Project Proposzl covering t'ne interior construction (Phase' 11) of this building was approved by the A SC B Committee and forwarded tothe A.E.C. Commission - consent was obtained by Engineering and Construction f o r t h e negotiation of a lump siun design and construction subcontract f o r this Phase I1 work with t h e DiX Steel Company. The required design criteria are being prepzed. A t Pile,Engineering Section request, e statistical study was begun of panel lit pressure readings for the H-10 loading t o see i f the rupture of P-13 lithium - aluminum alloy slugs can be predicted m d prevented. expected.exposures of tubes in the H-10 loading inthe production piles was made by the Computing Laborctory, tothe study of isotope correction factors and cbemical assay-radioassay ratios i n connection with analytical control of the separation process. Another study of t h e Considerable statistical effort w2s devoted The Technical Information Group resolved s evo rd Hmford questions i n connection with the forthcoming A.EmC. revision of the Standard Distribution Lists f o r research and development reports. ment of the files in the Schenectady Office (of the Nucleonics Department) = a branch of the Hanford Classified Tiles,with local accountability for all classified documents transmitted there, Arrangements also were completed for treatHEALTH INSTRUi ENT DTJISIONS There were three inform21 investigations and one Class I invzstigation of special hazards incidcnts.

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The control programs of 2I.l the divisions showed no result sign if ical t ly different froin the expected pattern, except inthe increased relezse and The development division appeared t o have proved specifically the production of tritium i n the P-13 experiment, beyond the concentrations suggested by t h e current physical constants. would be outside the responsibilities of the division. 3urther investigztion of this interesting problem The bioloey division reported scvrral experiments suggestive of ways i n which tri tia ted water may be introduced into the body, m d how it would be utilized by the body. The fish laboratory work tcnded t o confirm the prcvious intcr - mat ation that pile effluent was more toxic as a chemical hoison than m a PLANT SECtiXITY AND SZRVICES DIVISIONS There wcre no major injuries during the month. The major injury frequency rate wrs furthcr rcduced t o 3.25 for the yc?.r t o date, The HMord Works of the Gc nerd Electric Company was declared the Kinner of thc AEZ Safety Improvement C0ntes.t for Group Iin 1950. There were no industriLal fircs during March. Lamdry volumc decreased slightly in thc plant laundry and remained app ox imt ely thc same i n the …