Hanford Works Monthly Report for January 1952 (Deleted)

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bolls Atomic Power Laboratory Atomic Energy Commission Word Operations Office Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office

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Metal. Preparation Section ..................... 23 Technical Ssrcvices Unit.................... 120 Design and Construction Section .................. 135 Radiological Sciences Department .................... 174 General Accounting Section .................. 199 i - Engineering Accounting Section ................... 224 Community Accounting Section .................... 228 .Utilities and General Services Department Plant Security and Services Section ............... 230 Electrical Distribution and Telephone Section ........... 291 Statistical ad Computing Semdces Section ............. 296 &plOy!S and Public Relations Department ................ 304

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Production Opera t i om U1 prod m tim :"orocasts were exceeded &ring the nonth except that for the Isoiatior, hi Xing zhich attained 9h.5 of forecast. rzsulfe.1 fxm r.he delay i n anticipated dei ive7 of material from the Redax Fxthe first time in severdmonths, there wasa reduction in the number of failures of slug jackets from 2 1 last month t o 20 this month, Although this reduction is numerically insignifican%, there i s reason t o believe that steps fakm t o improve the quality of the jackets are having the desi-ed effecto This lowered production The first shi?nent of U03was rnade dura the month. 'Ths record rate of prcduction o f tritiL?,stained last month was more than 'dater l a & satF and W piles prosent a stubborn problem which is receiving Shake-down runs at partial activity levels in the Redox plant have been completed, and full-scale activity slugs were started through the head end. Dmelopment work i n the field of process control which has been carried on f o r t h e Fast year and more has now reached the pay-off period, The several new processes in the plant are aI1 under controlo and the transfer of these control Pmctions from the Engineering Department t o th? Manufacturing Department is under way. Significant advancss have been made i n biological research relating to t h e retention of tritium and plutonium iin the body, Ecr,an s ion a-.d Cons fruct ion Tne orderly tram for of the management of construction activities from the Coq any to the Commission continues. essentially complete about A~rill9 1952, The basic features of a design of a larger and much inproved graphite reactor have been assmSled, and a proposal for i t s design has been made t o the The transfer is expected t o be Jurisdictional disputes among craft labor unions continue t o delay construc-

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:, n4w peak demand for s lect ric pouer uas established in Jan~aryas a consequence ;f the axpansion of the plant. Expansion was also responsible fora new peak in the nurrher of passer.gers cde d by the Plant &rs Systam. Persornel and Sed ces Tho- ars 668 applications for haus- pending. ‘3.2 ?Imt roll decreased slightly to 9,09& and the turnover rate increased t o Tho preparation of budget estimates f o r FY 19% and revised estimates-for mc National Fire Protection Associatian awarded Richland first place in the State Jf Washington for its 1951 entry i n the National Fire Freventian’Week

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Assistant t o the General Manager, General Administration Assistant t o the General Manager, Technical ........... W. I. Patnode Manager, Community Real Estate and Services .......... Lo F. Buck

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Deeign & Coastr. Sectios No. Richland Rdty Metal Prep. Section Gen. Acctg. (Inc. Med.) Gen. Acctg. Payroll Elect. Dist. & Telephone Plant Sec. & Service COMM. REAL ESTATE & SZFWIeX

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The t o t a l production for the month was 139 tons of acceptable pieces, exceed- the forecast by three percent. The machining yield w a s increased 1.8 percent t o 76.& percent as a result of improved rod surfaces. This material w a s rolled curing October, November, and December, rezlectThe canning yield of 75.6 percent remained ths same as that of Lecsrber; however, this does not reflect a breakdown between L inch and 8 inch i n production of the 8 inch pieces, coupled xith the establishment of 8 inch slug canning procedures and techniques, tendgd t o decrease t h s The Melt Plant produced h3 tons of billets at a yield of 8L.3 percent and' a solid yiola of 92.L Tercent. press ;Pas agah experiences this nontb due t o mechanical failure. ing the vmdor's efforts in quality improvement. -1 The L inch canning yield improved slin_htly, whereas the increase Lcss a f producticln sf the chip recovery Total maximum opera th g lsveis nere 5 lm akove p ~ ~ o u shigh of lsst aonth. The reactor input prcduction xas 102.1 Percent of fzrecast, ana vas 3.1 percent p eater than the December production, lOlr.8 percent of forecast, The reactor operating efficiency for t h i s period mas 88.2 percent, Three reactors, DR, F, and H, operated a t redaced power levels for vaqdng thes because of water conditions in the There were 20 &a&m jacket failures during Januaq~?sq~lribg311 h o w s of outage time f o r rmoval. operations. of approximately 200 hours o f potential outage time. - The outpt production was Atom of 133 runs and two acid washes was started i n the Zanyon zuildlr.gs, and w a s io8 percent of forPcast. and two acid washes were completed. A t o t a l of 128 m.s and two acid xashes was processed In t h e Isolation Building which mas 9&.7 percsnt o f fGreCaStThe anticipated deliver1 of material t o the Isolation 3uilding from the Redox plant w a s delayed resulting in lowered production-. I n the Concentrazion Buildings, 120 IVRS The average cool kg time was &9 days with a minimum o f LO days. being used. The average purity of the completsd charges was 98.6 percent. Redox d ti cycle runs were made with 5 percent "hot11t racer material, WiZh the i n i t i a l dissolving of 100 percent Eanford leveel loaterial in the A-2

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ii z sol vcr on Janury 1952. The anticipated fulls cde qe ration Tas aalayed as a result of several equipment failures throughout the Redox Tho UO3 was obtained from the %oldt1 UNH produced in the Redox plant. L? preparing f o r TEP start up, homogenization of t h e metal waste supernate in the 101-U, lO2=U, 1034 s e r i e s was completed and the solution transferred Effective January 2, Analytical Control functions, personnel, and facilities for the E, T, and 231 Plants, Metal Preparation Plant (except spectographic analyses), Pile water Treatment Plants, a s well as essential materials analyses and certain analytical services in direct support o f operations were transferred frm the Tachnical Section of the Engineer- Department t o the 'Xanufacturing To N , Mobley was appointed Superlntendenc - Process in the Separations Section, the Reactor Section, effective January 1, 1952. Total on Roll December 31, 1951 3048 Total on Roll January 31, 1952 3202 . +Includes the transfer of analytical personnel.

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.E1Fzrsons engaged iq nork that night reasonablp 'cs sxpectedr.to rez ul t i n inventions o r discoveries advise that, t o the best of their knmiedge 3nd belief, no inventions or discoveries were made in the course o f t h e i r work awing the period covered by thls re?ort excort as listed belam. Stlch persons ht"ther advise that, for the period themir, covared by this report, notebook rscords, if any, kept in t i e c3urse cf the* nork have been examined for ys sib le inventions o r Aiscoveries.

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December Januam Year To Date chip Recovery Yield (5) Poison Canned (No. Pfecer) 305 Spec id Tarts (m) Cod Cond (Tons eat.) Sanitary Water from 3000 k e a (MM gals.) Chlorine bri dual (m) Appro-tely 94% of the uranium Ip;achined during the month w a s from virgin material w h i u h uaa rolled during October, November aud Decembr. higher yield maulted prolp improvement in the ' mface quality of the November end Deceaber rolled rode. December rolling indicates ruFther improvement in quality. hrndnltion of pilot lot8 machined f'rom the The cmnnjnP yield I s in Ue with the yield for December, 1951. The yield of four inch slugs showed an increase of .08$. However, the o v e r u yield of four inch and eight inch slugs was adversely affected e increased f r o s t teat, non-aeat, and notcanned rejects, resulting from the initial canning of eight Inch slugs. , Approximately & tons of eight inch slugs uere canned t o establish and test the beat workable equipment, and to perfect operating techniques None of the rluga tested for penetration during the month were found t o be penetrated to within .010" of the outer surface of the can well. Analyrls of the five autaclave faflure8 which occrured durbg the nonth P8= vealed t h a t oae uaa believed t o be the remalt of a defective can and four were belimed to be attributable to operating techniquest

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For Eccountebilitj- znd process purposes, tests were conducted to determine rete of dissolution of bere uraniuin slugs in v w i o u s process baths. -nary results indicate the greetest rate takes place in the AlSi canning bath and AlSi dip bath. reports and control of process materiel, a study wes conducted to determine the most probable experience factor to he used for the unanalyzed precipitate obtained from spent pickle acid. As a result of t h i s study, the experience factor was revised. u r d u m removed from bare slugs by the pickling process. perience factor being used was confirmed. The increased production tS briquettes'during the month resulted from two shift operation of the melt plant and chip recovery press. yield in the melt plant resulted f r o m a nine day outage of the chip recovery press, due to mechanical failure, necessitating the backlogging of approximately 20 tons of chips. To further improve the accuracy of accountability An analysis was made to determine the average amount of Validity of the exThe mmparable low solid Inch Uranium Slugs Fabricated in Heavy Walled Aluminum Cans" (HLi-22463). Approximately 3000 pieces were canned in accordance with t h i s test. Work is proceeding on a partial production basis although non-seating and frost-test reject rates continue to be high. for irradiation, At month end, U O O pieces hed been shipped In accordance with the terms of this test, four days of production were run without agitating slugs vertically through the flux layer over the bronze.bath. No abnormal reject rates were experienced. zdiation of Salt Bath Heat Treated Alpha-Rolled Urs niu m Slugs" (HW-22770)e The first experimental group of slugs heat treated in salt failed to transform satisfactorily due to lack of agitation of the bath. continued pending construction of suitable mechanical equipment to improve the The test was discanning production was 3% above the tonnage forecast and is attributable -7 to the effective allocation of available treined personnel for routine protributable to the trnining of a large number of new men. Machining production was 2.8% below the tonnage forecast and is at-

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The chip recovery briquetting press was out of service for nine deys as a result of a broken ram pressure plate and press head plate. A new pressure plate was fabricated and the head plate reinforced, pending fabrication o f a new head plate. Three slug welding transformers failed during t h e month and were replaced with duplicate units. The new 200-ampere units ere scheduled A method was adopted for unloading ureniun rods from freight cars by hydro-crane in lot bundles. of unloading and weighing individual rods and it is estimated w i l l result in a labor saving of $6500 per year with an additional freight :ar demurrage charge saving of $500 per year. This will replace the mama1 method A verning light was installed sn 2-C cPnning mauce to indicate when process temperatures are exceededc in reducing the number of off-cycle rejects, the other canning furnaces in alikz manner. on USi bath, time of slug dip in tin, change of power input to frosttest, and decreased time limit on can submersion were authorized during the month. This has proven satisfactory It is planned to equip ~ -__ Adoption of process specification changes widening temperature ranges 2. Invections and Discoveries Personnel in the Metal Preparation Section engaged in work w h i c h might be expected t o result in inventions o r discoveries have reported no inventions o r discoveries were made during the period covered by this D. Plant Develomnent and Expansion Project C-199 - 300 Area Sewege Disposel System - Construction Started Reject C-432 - Expansion of 300 Area Power House and ,bumping Facilities. Design epproximately 79% ccmplete, merit is progressing on schedule. Excavetion for septic tanks in progress. Actual construction has not started Fabrication of equip

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Cost Standards were developed f o r labor in component part preparation of the canning operation; bronze, tin, copper and flux for cenning 4" slugs and Alu ~ n u mS Ucate and 8itz-k Acid for canning of 8" slugs. standards, with those previously developed are being consolidated into the Manufacturing Standards Manual. bg nee ring studies were conducted on the following item: Development of 4acremental canned and bare slug reject costs. Design of an improved canning jack, c. Reparation of workspace layout in connection with trensfer of Instrument Tube Shop from building 717-A to 37174 and transfer of Instruntent Rlglxleera from building 37174 t o 37074. Operation of salt bath slug transformation and installation of pro-d. e. Determination of feasibility of using a bar cut-off saw for caned slug finishing, elhinating fsclng operation. HW-23206 Production and Manpower Forecast, W. Windsheimer 1-8-52 January 1952, Operations Unit, Metal Preparation Section Monthly Report f o r December, 1951 HW-23240 Preliminary Results on Applying the D. C. Worlton 1-10-52 Sperry Reflectoscope to Non-aestructive Testing of Uranium Slugs Minutes of Meeting

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Concurrent uith the transfer of responsibility for the analytical cont r o l functions, three exempt and 13 non-exempt employees uere transferred *om the Analytical U n i t , Technical Services Section of the Fngineering Department t o the Process Unit of the Metal Preparation Beginning of Month Monthly Weekly Totel mere were no major o r sub-major injuries during the month. An exposure of 360 mrep of beta radiation as determined by the weekly film bad e of e machining operator was informally investigated. Inof the radiation hazard involved contrfbuted t o the exposure. Approvestiget Pon determined that W fic i ent appreciation of the sifnificance - pri ate action wes taken t o prevent recurrence.- -_-

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ment operations was transferrsd from -re Ehglneering Depar'aent t o the Xmgfec mri lg Deparfmens, effective Jmcry wes assigned totie Reactor Seccion, ?-mess Unit. fer were water cont rd laboratory f.=-l~~_L:-:e5snd relazed persoanel. hra ation of the Plant Eng'ineerhg Sec io ez Uni: contbued during the mmch, sf contact eng beer bg, industrial engseerillg, …