Hanford Works Monthly Report February, 1949 (Deleted)

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PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED THIS DOCUMENT H A S BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE This doci~msCuc on s is ts of

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oc2urrence of a stuck slug ina process tube ccc m red in the D Pile slug. Thz operating tirce efficiency was 68.L%, catlsed 3y the above difficult yard scheduled ou tags for normal dischzrgs o f netal and repairs to Van Stone fla qes of the process tubes ,, Production facilities in the 300 Area vere placed on a parti zl t17cshift basis on F'eSrmry 2, 194e t o meet anticipated denards for in creased r; r oduc ti on. The Rev metal casting facilities in the 300 Area were placed in F o ~ t ybatches were started through the Ci yon Buildings and forty - two nere comgleted through the Isolation Building, There x a s one major injury duri,ng Februzry. The plant safety record Yr, J. R,Rx has Seen transferred to Hmford Tfoyks as of Feb na qr 16, a fec ti ve February 1, the Hsalth In st xn ent ?roup vas r mme dfr m the Medical 3epar+ument and aill no= be ha72 as the Health Instrument the status of a separate ?Torks Lngineerling ;~pcvtmen-h, t o be knam This Department m i l ? - hsndle Nr, D. H. Lsder mas on an extended visit t o the East keglmir,g Fe ku ary 8, l9k8, Fe ku ary 16,

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Assistant Xanager and Works Engineer ... Assistant Uanager a d Korks Lccountant ..... Construction Fro j ect Manager ...... Project Engineering Department Superinterdent, Medical Cepzrtment Superintendent ,... Health In str ment Department Superintendent .

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Zdmond J. hr re tt Fro j ect bg in ee ring 2-18-48 New better pcs it ion, Trans ?oz'tn t ion Retired.

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The I3 an6 F Piles operated a t 275 M.W. throughcut February except for approximately one week t o allow repairs to Van Stone flanges. 3-Pile was inaintained in st a Adb ycondition Each oFerating a r e a had ;n exteivled outage of with a water flow of The 100 Area discharge rate continued a t 60 tcm per month, Area prcduction amounted t o 105 tons of acceptable 41' canned slugs; several operations in this area ?laced on a 2 - shift, five-day week schedule on Feb rua q 2, 1SL8. Comeccir-g with the first metal cha;.ged i? the piles this math, all replacemant s hgs are of a nominal 4.11 length. currently stored in the 300 Area will be keld k reserve for use a-t some future date. A stock of 8" slugs The new casting facilities in Building 3U inthe 300 Area were place2 in operation, the first crucible charge being melted and pocre6 u1 the south furnace on February 2. Conversion from Un t c 21" billet manufacture was c men ced on February 23 and completed February 27. Eleven tons of billets were prduceci during the month, A study setting forth metal requirements for possible 3-pile operaticn was prepared in February. (Docment No. HW-861, Lee t o Shugg, The 100 Area Process Control group continued preliminarJ t e s t work on the long stroke and the magazine-type rea: face charging machines, After mai if ica tian,both machines Prill be set up a t the B-Pile for The design work on a spare effluent sewer lice a t the F-Pile is nearly complete. Olden are being placed f o r materials of construction, In the first severe occurrence of this type, tho stringer in Tube No. 2464.-D was found t o be firmly wedged duir,g normal di schr ge operations on Febxuary 2, re qc i ring the cc t ting amy of the process tube ribs dms tre an of the stuck slug, pushed out by means of a hydraulic ram previously developed for this As a result of successful pile exposure tests on lead dipped alpha rolled material, it was decided t o convert billets to rods b7the ment was diverted to a rolling mill i n the Middle West for rolling. Following this, tho chsrge was The Februarg billet ship-

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Tke e;r.plcyeas adzccl t o th2 payroll vere assigiled as ixdica'ied below, the addition being nec es ssv for increased production of skgs, Ten new operatorz were hired and tno terminated vo imt ari ly. operator moves wzre inth ;.SO Area. Number of Parges Inhours Gzined (this month) * Startrrp was delayed because of difficulty in disch rg ing tubes. +c+e Ex ted ed ostags for reFairs t o Van Stone flanges.

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A nunber of Special Request samples were processed during February, Details of their irradiation ard of all currently active Pro hc tion Tests may be found in the Technical section of this report. having significant operational details are indicated below: was discharged on Februa-ry 21. Although the stringer was ata concentration abcut 2 t times normal, no difficulties in discharging were experienced. Samples of graphite were removed from the charmel of Tube No. 0 1 8 2 4 m i t h m t incident on February 6 . 105-168-P (Replacement of P i l e Helium Atmosphere with Carbon The atmosphere in the D-Pile was maintained at appr mi - mately the following analysis during the entire month: A i r and other impurities 1.5% No effects other than those reported last month hve The carbon dioxide addition equipmeat is being revised in accordance with Blueprint No. H-1-780 t o permit more efficient handling of the gas. this Production Test is being prepared t o increase the carbon diaxide in the p i l e atmosphere to 25%. The installation of strain gauges on the front and rear faces of D-Pile was continued during February. These gauges are used for following and observing mo-bian of the pile during replacement of the heliiun atmosphere with 13 more are scheduled. To date, 34 gauges have been installed; The s t e p plug and thimble were removed from the Hole a t D-Pile on February 18; a special plug incorporating a gas seal and radiation shielding was installed but no new thimble was inserted. During shutdowns, the shield plug will be removed t o allow measurements of the graphite blocks; basic measurements of this type were made on February 18 and 19 on graphite surrounding Tubes No. 21774, 2186-D, 2286-D, and 2287-D which were discharged and l e f t empty on February 17. Operation as air filled tuces will

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allm these graphite blocks t o run ata higher than'normal temperature, with the possibility that some annealing of the graphite will reslllt. Capacity tests on the water filters at Buildings 183-F and 183-D were begun on February 9 and 21 respectively. No operxtional difficulties have been experienced at the pile build hgs as a result of this test other than arise in the rate of increase of water pressure drop in the process tuSes. To date this has been about twice normal a t F-Pile and only of the water or in the effluent water radioactivity bs been observed, No significant change i n the iron content The program of inspection and repair of Van Stone flanges was continued, "To date" figares on repairs at the end ofthe month were: Repaired Additional Clearance Considerable difficulty was encountered during routine discharges because on Februarg 2, stuck firmly and cmJA not be moved until the pieces dam - stream of the stuck slug had been removed by washing them out with high pms sure process water. from the rear face of the pile to cut away most of the process tube ribs downstream of the stuck piece, after which the tube was discharged readily using t h e hand charger. or distorted slugs were found, slugs revealed that a l l were standard 3" MZ pieces canned in the 300 Area between May 15 and June 6 , 1347, 5 of them having been canned on Ma7 29, 1947. Further investigation will be =de t o determine if any slug fabrication conditions can be correlated with the blistering effect. I hydraulic ram, and expanding mandrel), ford is th arge. Tube No. 2+64-D, Following this,a special cutting tool was inserted (A detailed report on this incident is being issued In the8 tubes indicated above, a total of 10 badly blistered Emnination of the end cap data on these Tube No. 3163-D was replaced on February 19 without incident and charged with regular metal. The remaining 7 tubes which gave trouble are aut Of service at present and will be replaced i n Narch.

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Tube KO. 0182-F' was re.noved in Februa;-g i n order t o obtain s mp les cf difficulty wa3 experienced h a discfharge during Octobsr, 1947. ends and containing grooved steel pieczs, were inserted at each en6 a.rd t h e flanges were blanked. This tube !-..a been established as an air tuba afccr Short sections of process tubing cri qed at the inner Sie cia l s-hielding was installed mer the blanked operating condition a t the ena o f the month. February was as follows: Work done an them in The tips on Vertical3cd ~Na. 24 and 31 a t F-i'ila w me foi i to be bowed a d mere replzcec! with mp7 tips, No, 4 and 5 Horizontal Rods a t F-Pile showed some evidecce of bineicg, Both mre ccatecl with A p - 3ag ar.d have operated satis factor ii y since, were con timed, steel piping will De place6 early i u March. The chamber inthe nD'1 Test Hole at D-Pile was replaced with one of a different type on February 3for use in con j mc tion wt th the No. 1 galvanometez in the Control 3oom. This replacement was necessary sir,cs the chamber formerly used fcr this control was in "A" Test Xde and mas removed along with the thinble on Febnza--y 18 in conjunction with Prcduction Test 105-17.4-? (Lm ealing of Graphite), Six new l e a k s hsve evidemed themselves during the nonth, The F-Pile was purged with appr r x in at ely 15,ClEl CY. ft. of helium mer tho perid February 7-8 to raise the gas purity from 77%t o 9C$ follonixg an ex ted ed outage , The nater lea-ks inthe F-Area process sewer lina gave maximum reading of 25 m/hour. A l l such areas were roFed off as danger zones. No unu~uallyhazardous conditions mere encountered during the month. Production Statist lcs DEI:

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Acceptable Pieces Canncd The casting yields were a s follows: vqcuum of 6 microns, Ale & developed around the stopper rcd seat of 3% crucibla and it was nscesssry t o pour a t appro%lmately 1205%. On ccbsequsnt pours, stop-r rod lc akg e was somewhat i n evidence until hea-Tier counter weighcs were installed on the fulcrum arm controls on the stop2er On Febrrmarg 3 thg first complete fu i ice c-hazge (2.3 ~ ~c xc ib les) mas maltad and poured successfi1,ly in the fiB" fWmace, This furnace vas cible charge. The graphite sleeve between the crucible and insulating brick had been removed to Cet emine the sleeve ls effect on heat transfer, Inspection of the furnace revealed that it was necessary t o removs the coils to repair the Micarta sup ~ ort sand repaint %he coils with ,plyptol. To reduce the possibility of future axing the following changes were made supports on the coils and ccverpd with facing plates ; the two cross I beam the false bottom of each f " IXcs, insulation between the coils a d sleeves were replaced with solid brick. The arcing originated during the melting of the hbber3cn - # suppo,-ts were removed from the top side and weldeil on the bottcm side of In additicr,, t ne brick cubes used as mork mas completed on the "A" flumace on F e b r u x y I 2 and the "BII f'urmice on Fu?bnzary 17, Outgassing was completed on F e 3 m r y 16 and 20, respecBoth fbnaces were operated for the balance of the month on a On February 24, molds were used in lrglf furnace that had been treated with a solution of carbonaceous cenent (C-3) and aerosol as recommended.by Kalli nc krai t, Xhen the meits mere poured there wa3 evidence of the metal boiling in the molds, which indicated that the molds contained moist we. All twelve billets cast from thij charge were rejected for surface porosity. The mold treatment mas repeated on molds used i n t h e same furnace on Feb ma q 25, with special precautions being taken t o assure that the mol& were properly preheated. T'iey appeared t o be d r y Then they were placed in

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5he furnace; hoyever, boil ki g TRS oher red in two molds ana the t w ~b ii l sts currently beicg investigated with respect toa7pli cation and dryri.ng, Since 21" billets are preferred by the roll hg mills, ccnversion or' the furnacos was started on Febmary 23 to cast billets of that length. five - inch extension ras added t o each crucible so t,%t the cfiarge cmld be increased fron approximately 450 lbs.to 575 lbs. sion was addel t o ezch nold sleeve. removal of the crucibles fol lo ning this charge. znderneath the cru.-,ibles fused 'co the cn ici ble bottoms d mzs plied at;, qt i zal pyrometer from the to? of the c mci bie s, EAY have been lomr tkl the actual ter per a ture due to a tops cm,or layer,pre renting acc - % e tim is cu-r>iltly based on the calculateu KUH reqkired pr wi ding that the indicated ten per a ture does 20% exceed/?l50C. To date the capping of billets 5as not been con p let ely successflrl with msp ect to rzclucing the ?orDsitg alnd pi?es in the top end of bill etc, Vsriaus capping thes, ramging from 5sec or is -io 1 minute and 45 secclids, t;70 inches is being cropped i n order t o coilform with t h e 5 xnainra depth for pipes in finished billets. Eight acceptabls 2111 billets vcr? The insula tia gS rick A study is being nade of pouzing ten psr a ture s azd the pcr iz g The conversion of t h e "-4'; The study is being continued. I n average of appr m he tel g - b tru sion, Machining, arLd Billet yields mre as follows: Extrusion was operated t h r e e eight-hour shifts on regula;. mzzteritll extruded until rolled rcds are mdea ~ ail able. two-shift scheclule beginning Feb rua q2 and was returned t o one-shift oa February 20 because of the conversion t o processing alpha-rolled rds. Fc ll ming arrangements t o convert current Sil let prcduction Michining was placed cn a Eighteen billets of Lot No. 544-8, cast in the Kelt Plant and having pipes over one inch in depth, were …