Monthly Report Hanford Atomic Products Operation March 1953 (Deleted)

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Operated for the Atomic Energy commission General Electric Company TH!S DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SZANNED AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK3RIVE Route To Read By uaze PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED

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

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Financial Department ....................... 1-1 through 1-5 Plant Auxiliary Operations Department Purchasing and Stores Section .............. Jb-1 through 55-12 Ehployee and Public Relations Department ........... Community Operations and Real Estate Department ....... .Community Section ..................... Public works Unit .................. Recreation and Civic Affairs Unit......... .Richland Public Library ............... Real Estate Section ................... Housing and Real Estate Maintenance Unit ..... .Commercial Property Unit ..............

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Prc3;c tion be rations T Y ~ E new records were set in the Metal Preparation Section: (1) a machining yield of ~ t t ' ~ la1 ,and (3) an all time record for accected slugs. Net Production was 136 3eactar inp;t production was 102 percent of forecast, and output production f o r t h e n c ~ t kwas 133 ?ercent of forecast. i n progress a i nonth end. A t tke T ?lant, prod7;ction was 335 percent of forecast, and Redox production was 1 2 1 percent of forecast, making production f o r t h e quarter 105 percent of forecast. The T9P p l a c t was hampered 3y lack of feed xaterial. Engineering and Technology Meas-nements of vertical height alone the length of the D test hole inthe DR pile nave shown negligible graphite distortion effects over the 29 month period since Fabrlcation Process have been successfully demonstrated on 10 and 23 gram scales, and a replica technique for the examination of uranium sxrfaces uslng the electron microscope has Seen developed. Project S A - S a , 333 Area &pansion, was transferred t o the Project Section on March the Metal Preparation Process and i s approximately 93% complete. Three work storpages occurred during t h e inonth, the most serious 02 which involved picketin? by machinists on March 4. Personnel and Services Tne nonenclature for the Utilities and General Services Department was changed t o Plant A a ilia ry Operations. reduced by 29 em?loyees, Kith a saving of $151,000 per year. By letter of March 12, 1953, the HAMTC served notice of a desire t o modify and revise tne Collective Sargaining Agreement. Turnover increased from 1.03 percent i n Febmary t o 1.42 percent i n March. %e total nunber o f housing ayplications pending i s 715. Zstablished maximum operating level increases There were four uranium jacket failures a t F, and a l la t 8. Chargkg of i ate rial in3R pile for tne new P-10 program was A t V03 nine carloads of powder were The month's connitment of t5e 23L-5 oy ration was delivered. %JO different methods for avoiding the use of corrosive HF in the he tal Techcical maaagement of architect-engineer services inthe design of Detail desl5n continued on the prototype f u e l element canning machine for Inthe Plant Protection Sectioc, the Patrol force was The Company likewise reopened by letter of the

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General Manager, Atomic Products Division ............ General Manager, Hanford Atomic Products Operation ....... W. E. Johnson Assistant t o the General Manager, Technical ........... W. I. Patnode Manager, Community Operations and Real Estate .......... L. F. Huck

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Plant Auxiliary O perations Department Electrical Distribution & Telephone Purchasing and Stores Plant Security and Services Patrol and Security 62 62 &91 52 2 553 534 Off ice Services 30 '9 308 312 338 3&1 Administration Maintenance Service 11 11 56 52 67 63 Statistical and Computing 34. 34 54 5& 88 88 Community Operations & Real EstateDept.101 102 318 33-4 419 &16 Employee & Public Relations Dept. 52 51 168 1 7 7 2 20 228 Radiological Sciences Department Records and Standards 25 24 a 6 149 171 173 Includes 6 non-exempt female employees in Schenectady Office. Includes 7 non-exempt female employees i n Schenectady Office. Includes 6 non-exempt female employees in Schenectady Office. Includes 7 non-exempt female employees i n Schenectady Office.

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me net production for the lopth was 180 tone (1069 of forecast) which included 22 tons of 4-inch material aad 158 tone of 8-inch material, and represents an all t h e record for accepted slugs. T!he mnchlning yield was 83.6 percent f o r 4-inch a d 83.5 percent for 8-inch msterial. me field vas 63.1 percent for 4-inch a d 65.2 peraent for 8-inch material. The caabined yield decreased three percent. B e mjor redect categories vhich affected the ylelds ven non-seats, msrrad sMaces, poor bond, and thin caps mese are elso new records. However, during the laat half of the mnth the non-seat rejects showed a Barked isprorarnt. Zhe melt plant produced 35 tam of billets vith a yield of 87.5 percent and a solid field of 96 percurt. talned since Deader, 1951. me melt phnt solid and billet yields were the mest atOne &inch slug autoclave failure occurred during the mnth and vas caused by a The first shipart of P-10 enriched slugs was received overall c8nnlng field of 96.1 peraent was attainad. Target elug canning started on bare slugs t o accepted caaned slugs. due t o the air trapped between the aan uall and cap. the m t h and an 17 w i t h an ope- yield of about 64s franr Weld closures have been difficult to obtain Saae inp- was noted The total reactor input production was 102 percent of forecast. associated basin repairs, therrocouple replacarents,*dovncamer altexmtians and repaJrs, and effluent lint e;t h e partial p l w .nd subsequent replacencnt of valve p i t header screens at D w i t h the ipspcction sld cleaalq of the pile cone screens; rapid filr buildup at C due to excessive iron in the mster causipe numerous panellit 8crsns; panellit mcmw in other piles causing asmll urrrmt of outage time and four outxqps at ? due t o nqrtured umalm pieees. Major item that The output produetion for the xmth uaa 100 percent of forecast. t o C metal burnout) and 5 IW at B Reactor.

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Then were four mum jacket failures during this period and all were at materid ami one ~ r m p7. mere vu one proaerr tube fall- during the month at B Area. for locating the tube van 27.2 hours. The outage time waa 72.2 hours. Three of the failures were GKJUP 8 The outage tlme Charg4g of materirl in the Dw p i l e f o r the new P-10 was in progress at A total of 42 run6 was awed in the T Canyon Building. percent of foreaast. The Redox plant production 121 percent of forecast. The March production WIB rufficient t o briag the production for the quarter t o lo5 percent of foreorst. This production was 305 During the month, 15 percent of the Redox operatirg t i m e vaa 106t due t o such item as flushing the lA colum, replacing t h e 2DU letdown valve, reworking off-standard material and corracting the Interface indicators on the 2 A column. !l!'he TEP-plant produced 165 ton8 of arsnium aa UEH which was 69 percent of the forecast. me principal cause of the compamtively low production MB t h e lack of feed derated t o average an 8 ton a day rate. Durfns the last ten day8 of t h e month, however, the production was ac- 'Be highest indivjdual column rate during the month YIB the A at 5 tons .nd B at 6 tons. me 9plsnt operated routinely on available material during t h i s period. of 281 tons of uranium as tJ9 was produced &ich was 94 percent of forecast. of feed material from both the TBP and Redox plauts hindered t h e attainment of maxiHlne carloads of powder were shipped offsite. Metal lclpovdL efforts were hmdlcapped by pump difficulties and poor sluicing reMarch 17, thus substarntially increasing feed material t o TBP. noted that through improved sluicing techniques material pick up had increased at C and U fanns d&ng the latter part of the month. There were five l!&gle pump fallures during the month. troubles, time was also lost by the failure of the slurry accumulator jets,a power outage, electrical awitchgerr trouble and somc line plugging t o 241-wR. The third tank farm, BXR, 8tsFted sluicing and blending operations on It is also t o be In addition t o the pump The month's cormmitment of the 234-5 operstion vas delivered. waa done on t h e RMA line and 92.6 percent of the incoming feed material. wa8 started

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Responsibilities of t h e Section remained unchanged. Bare Pieces Whined (k")(Tons) 28 18 Bare Pieces Whined (8")(~ons) 86 93 mh in ing Yield (8")($) 83.5 82.6 Tatel Pieces Whined (Tons) 114 111 Acceptable Pieces Canned (4") (Tons) Clroea 23 17 Acceptable Pieces Canned (4")(Tons) Ret 22 16 Acceptable Pieces Canned (8")(%ns) Gross 160 133 Acceptable Pieces Canned (8")(Tons)Bet 158 131

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Redox merat ions Equivalent charges started Tom Uranium delivered t o storage Average Production Rate per operating Average Dally Operating Rate for t h e Totd Waste LOSS, j6 Average cooling time, days Mlaimum coollng time, days Percent dam time Runs completed through Task 111 Uranium dm med, Tons Uranium shipped, Tons Average coollng time, days (Redox) Mlnlmum cooling time, days (Redox) February To Date March February To Date Tons received from Metal Removal 182 120.03 736 34 Tons shipped t o U03 Plant 164.98 111.61 702.52 Average Production Rate per Average Daily Operating Rate for operating day, Tons 6.78 6.37

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Metal Preparation Section One eight inch slug autoclave failure occurring during the month YBB believed t o have been caused by a defective can. Ihc melt plant solid and billet yields were the highest attained since the billet quality standards vere revised in December, 1951. Ala0 a new high In one s h i f t operating efficiency was reached vhen 306 billets were cast out of a maximum possible 312. During the period of non-seating difficulties in the canning operation, rigid inspection of the canning sleeves was instituted to determine the effect of sleeve size and variation. Results indicated no correlation betveen sleeve size and non-seating. A marked variation i n bonding strength has been noted In slugs rejected at the frost test. In a preliminary study of this condition, tin content in the AlSi camin& bath was varied and bonding strength was found t o be unusually strong with atin content of 1.546. The f i r s t shipment of 5-2 slugs was received and 2863 pieces were acceptably canned with an over-all yield of 96.14. 6 1 ~ scanned, 9.8s required stripping and recanning because of Of the total Ihe canning of the initial shipmeL: of target slws began on Wch 17 on a t w o shift basis. To date 1409 acceptable slugs have been canned with a yield of about 6046, which is lower than had been anticipated. Weld closures have been difficult to obtain because of air trapped between t h e can vall end the caps. as it was thought that the sizing operation would eliminate the air and result in higher quality welds. Of pieces have been rejected because of flaws i n the metal and for unsatisfactory reactivity results. mls was contrary t o expectstions In addition, a substantial number Machining production was 4.94 below that forecast mainly as a result of diverting manpower from the machining operation t o the P-10 program. B i l l e t production exceeded the forecast by 154 because of high yields and operating efficiencies. Canning production ms 6s above the forecast as a result of improved Operating efficiencies on the canning lines. Of furnace overhauls and prompt maintenance work reduced lost operating time to amin bm.

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failure of the X-ray unlt in the marking fluoroscope resulted in 16 hours lost production on t h i s piece of equipment. It was necessary productlan delay8 la P-10 tr r get slug machining have resulted from failure of the excessively worn lathe chuck. repairs ell enable operation t o continue. It is believed that local 2. Inspections, Maintenance and Replacements Repair of the ash sluice line from the power home was started when a leak was disaovered. During the repair it was noted t h a t the line Joints were not properly caulked. As the line will be located under some of the laboratory area roads, the entire line was d u up. that the it was discovered that 160 feet of spiral weld pipe on the outer end of the line had seriously deteriorated. This was replaced with cast iron pipe and the entire line recaulked. at Fernald". Production vas started on this test during the month with 27,000 pieces canned and 10,000 ready for shipment t o Reactor. 2. Process Tests and Revisions "be procedure f o r t h e controlled bailing of the AlSi canning bath has been in effect since February 24, 1953. has been accomplished in reducing the tin build-up rate, with a resultant savings estimated t o be about $20,000 per year. It appears the desired effect one canning l i n e the t i n bath agitator has been put in operation on the AlSi dip station. This has resulted i n another marked reduction in t i n carry-over t o the AlSi canning bath. Life of the canning bath has been extended as much as 305 I n some instances. Attempts were made during the month t o recover t i n by the selective precipitation of the contaminating copper with 2s aluminum from a molten tin bath. The final copper content of the recke dt in was less than 15, which is an improvement over the present method of rehowever, which made separation of the crystals difficult. Plans are progressing for centrifugation as one method of removing entrained Extremely small cfystals of aluminum-copper were formed,

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* Metal Preparation Section 2. Process Tests and Revisions Continued On March 10, 1953 the process test of fluxing the Alsi canning bath f o r removal of entrained gasses and foreign material was resumed and is now in progress. 3. Inventions and Discoveries Personnel in the Metal Preparation Section engaged i n work which might be expected to result in inventions or dlscoveries advlse that t o the best of their knowledge and belief, no inventions or discoveries were made i n the course of their work during the period covered by this report, except those described in Reports of Invention as "Semi-Automatic A slight decrease in material cost resulted from lower AlSi consumption. Procedures for decreasing tin build-up are responsible for this reduction. Other costs decreased slightly becsuse of a reduction In maintenance and an increase in production over that Sorecast. unloading equipment for t h e shipping vans was completed and one install ation made. …