Hanford Works Monthly Report for August 1952 (Deleted)

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PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED Operated for the Atomic Znergy Commission PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED

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Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Ihergy Cods sion Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Commission

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Utilities and Zeneral Services Department Statistical and Conputing Services Section Co-mmity Red Estate and Services Department .e.........G1

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HAhTPORD WORKS MONTHLY REPORT New high records were established i n the Reactor Plar-ts, the Redox Plant, and the Isolation Suilding in spit c of continued difficulties arising from ruptured slug jackets and leaking tubes. Production i n the uranium oxide plant w a s but 62% of forecast owine t o process difficulties that have apparently been overcome a t 88% of forecast owing t o the diversion of feed t o the more econonical Redox Plant. Production runs started in the Busmuth Phosphate Plants were but Engineering and Technolorn Work Authorities and Directives were received from the AZC relating t o the Reactors, Water Plants, Separations Plant, Metal Preparation Plant and Railroad included i n Designs of t h e K Reactor and Water Plant were 33.5% and 19.5% complete a t month's . The procurement of graphite continues t o be the schedule-limiting item. Major buildings and facilities of 130-C have now been completed except for incidental clean-up, painting, adjustment o f ventilation,9 instrument calibrations, Fundamental coistants of a 7-3" lattice spacing have been determined t o be consisResults of preliminary pile testing of graphite manufactured from Texas coke, which i s the future co mercia l source, indicate that it i s suitable for pile moderator insofar as irradiation damage is concerned, Personnel and Services The plant roll continued t o decrease slightly to 8,885, as the turnover rate 'lhe-e are now 210 employees i n militaqj leave status out of a total of 239 who have terminated t o enter military service. The industrial medical service sta?dards were determined t o be adequate for certification by the American Foundation of Occupational Health and by the Industrial Medical Association. The first billings to residential leaseholders for metered electricity were issued for the month of July. charged. This isa change from the fixed rates formerly There were 709 housing applications pending.

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Assistant tothe General Manager, General Administration ... Assistant t o the General Manager, Evaluation of Division Managerg Utilities and General Services ee... P. E. Baker Manager, Community Real Estate and Services ........ Le F. IUck

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METAL PEP A RATION SECTION The production f o r the month was 53 tons of four-inch material and 91 tons of eight-inch material for a total of l.44 tons. cent of forecast. spectively f o r four and eight-inch material. This production represents 101 perThe machining yields were 79.0 percent and 79.5 percent reThe canning yield was 76.1 percent f o r four-inch material and 68.8 percent f o r seating and poor bonding. Although not fully explained, there I s some corelation between the non-seat problem and warped slugs. The melt plant produced 65 tons of billets with a yield of 84.5 percent and a solid yield of 95.1 percent. The decrease i n the eightrinch yield was a result of noThere were no autoclave failures of the eight-inch material, however three failures occurred i n the four-inch material f o r a frequency of 0.11 per thousand. The reactor input production was 98.4 percent of forecast and was adversely affected by the large number of ruptured slugs which could not be discharged rap idly. A new t o t a l input production record was established on August 1 and the madmum operating level a t the H Reactor was increased 1 5 MW during t h e month. The reactor output was 140 percent of forecast. This was the result of an unscheduled outage a t month-end a t the H Reactor during which time the discharge was taken and an accelerated pushing program t o provide more material t o the There were 1 2 regylar uranium slug jacket failures i n August, eight of which were Group 8 and four were Group 7, In addition, a uranium receptacle slug i n a production test tube failed at the D Reactor. Four of the jacket failures were discharged within the scram recovery time avoiding approximately 80 hours of potential outage time. The operating efficiency of the reactors was 82.2 percent. ficiency was primarily due t o the large number of ruptured pieces, and several This very low efA t o t a l of seven process tubes were removed during this period because of water leaks into the graphite moderator for a total of l42.3 outage hours. a t the B Reactor; and 4068-F a t the F Reactor. had returned t o normal by month-end. The water collection at areas

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A total of 4.4 runs and ll acid washes was senting 88 percent of forecast. The low production resulted when m e t a l was diverted t o Redox process. In Redox 150 runs were started representing 1% percent of forecast which represents a new high production for this building. t o t a l of 206 runs and 2 acid washes was processed i n the Isolation Building and was 124 percent of forecast, setting a new record for this building. A record operating efficiency of 97.2 percent was achieved a t Redox. started i n the Canyon Buildings repre- "Cold" uranium runs from Redox UO3 continued in. the TBP process w i t h waste losses from the RA Column vaqing from 2 percent t o greater than 20 percent. Causes of the e r r a t i c performance of the RA Column have not been determined. A total of 44.3 tons of uranium as nO3 was produced this month which was 62 percent of forecast. pots of UNH from the TBP llcoldn runs. After many different methods of sup pressing foaming were unrsuccessfully attempted steam stripping i n a fractiona t i n g column of the URH material rsaulted in a great reduction of foaming The low production resulted from severe foaming i n the It was necesaaq t o start concentrating i n the TBP plant approximately 60 tons of uranium as UNH, which could not be processed t o UO3. diverted t o tank cars for off-site shipment. One car load (31.2 tons a s U) of UO from Redox was diverted from Oak Ridge to Harsha w Chemical Company i n d vel and for further processing t o reduce. ionic impurities. This material was All TBP plant facilities for storage of blended waste metal from U farm Total on Roll July 31, 1952 Ac ce ssio m Total on Roll August 31, 1952

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PATENT REPORT SUMMARY Ri chland , Washington 811 persons engaged i n work that might reasonably be expected t o rem lt in inventions or discoveries advise that, t o the best of their knowledge and bellsf, no inveintiens o r discoveries were made i n the course of t h e i r work during the period covered by this report except a s listed below. Such persons further advise that, for the period therein covered Qthis report, notebook records, if any, kept i n the course of their work'have been examined for possible inventions or

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Responsibilities of the Section were unchanged during the month. Bare Pieces Machined (4",Tons) Bare Pieces Machined (8",TOnS) Acceptable Pieces Canned (4",Tons) Acceptable Pieces Canned (81t,Tons) Chip Recovery Yield (7) Melt Plant Billet Yield (7)

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Juls August To Date Melt plant Solid Yield ( 5 ) 93.5 Oxide Burned (Weight out Tons) Poison Canned ( M b r Pieces) 989 Chbadcal 68-56 Canned (Number Pieces) 0 Chwdcal 10-66 Canned (Number Pieces) 386 305 Special Tests (Mm Hours) 305 Average Rate Steam Generated Sanitary Water from 3000 Area Total Water Average Rate (&) A l l r0d.t machined this month were from &gin material; 50% were rolled i n June and the other 50% i n March, April, May and July. The slight decrease in machining yield i s attributed t o rod The statistical quality control program which was successfully appUed t o the machining of 8 inch slugs was introduced i n the machining o f 4 inch slugs. for setting cut-off tools were provided, similar t o those used for 8 inch machining. Process personnel i n checking for discrepancies i n the go, no-go snap gauges used by machinfng operators. To aid in this program, hook gauges Step gauges were fabricated f o r use of Canning yield on four inch material remained approximately the same as last month. mately 7% due principally t o non-seating and poor bonding, study of the cause of non-seating was continued w i t h inconclusive brief periods and a correlation between magnitude o f slugs warpage and non-seating was found. The 8 inch material yields decreased approxiAbnormal rejection rates were found t o occur during Analysis of the three autoclave failures of L+ inch slugs which occurred'during the month revealed that two were the result of defective cans and one the result of operating,techniques. .

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An increase in the solid yield f o r the melt plant of approximately 1-55 is considered t o be the result of a decrease i n the ratio of TXB t o solid scrap. No significant change i n the billet yield resulted as ccvsiderable machining of billets was necessary t o maintain billet end quality. Ip pro at ely 23,000 eight inch slugs were processed by the triple dip method, This totals approximately 50,000 slugs canned accordMachining production was approximately 10% below forecast due mainly t o inexperienced operators, newly hired, resulting in decreased Canning production was 101% o f forecast. Billet production exceeded the forecast by 7.5%. through an improved operating time efficiency t h a t was not forecast. This was possible Slug recovery operated on a three shifb,six day week schedule through backlog of rejected canned slugs. The additional shift was added temporarily t o decrease the Approximately 6% of the total canning production time was lost as a result of mechanical failures ; 3%of these were bronze furnace failures. a result of a line failure north of the area. Another 30 minute outage occurred on August 28, beginning a t 11:20 A.M. due to a circuit breaker opening a t the Benton Substation.P :omplete black-out of the area resulted suspending production operation f o r the entire outage time. No production was lost. PT-313-105-2M - Triple Dip Canning and Irradiation of Eight Inch Uranium Slugs Fabricated in Heavy Walled Aluminum CansTt (HW-22463). During the month approximately 23,000 acceptable pieces were canned

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Metal Preparation Sectiol: in accordance with this test. the preceding month primarily due t o non-seating and poor bonding. Inrprovements were made in the number of slugs rejected for bad welds and USi slopover. The over-all yield was lower than i a t i o n of Salt Bath Heat !heated Alpha Rolled Uranium Slugs" (€ILL 227'70). No elugs were canned during the month under specifications determine the desired time cycle i n the adt bath which will incorporate an appropriate safety factor. The number of atations on the salt bath machine has been increased t o permit an increased time The Pile Technology Unit has been conducting tests to 2. pro cess Tests and Retvisions Two pneumatic canning jacks were operated on one 8 inch canning line during the month. The jacks relieve two canning operators of manual jack operation and enable them to devote greater attention t o proper cap pre-heat and cap mating. operation is also assured since there i s less possibility of the cans being immersed i n the AlSi prior to the start of the preheat cycle. Their use made possible a canning cycle reduction from 57 t o 53 seconds which results in a 7% increase i n production. Greater uniformity.of can preheat Revisions and rearrangement of cap and can inspection equipment has resulted i n an over-all improvement by minimizing required movements and increasing inspection eff'ciency. saving of approldmately a500 per year. It i s expected t o show a labor A SARCO automatic temperature regulating valve was installed on the final etch bath. bath temperature within f l.O°C., resulting i n more uniform etching This vplve has mde it possible t o maintain the All people i n the Metal Preparation'Section engaged i n work which might be expected to result in inventions or discoveries have reported that no inventions or discoveries were made during the period covered by this report. D. Events Influencing Costs One hundred man-hours overtime were expended i n maintenance o f

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Metal Preparation Section HW-25533 Seventy-two man-hours were required t o decontaminate the two rod cars received during the month. Operations U n i t personnel worked one Saturday more than was forecast. 2. k teri al Variance Approximately 8000 caps of poor quality were rejected and returned Approximately 10,000 more are on hand and will be piping on septic tank influent, effluent and sludge suction lines. These lines will be repaired before further testing. water Uneto septic tanks has been laid, but connections have not Tests have shown faulty Bo j ect G39L - Outside Facilities and Utilities for Laboratory kea. Steam and condensate lines to all buildings are complete except for service t o the Library and Files Building. been tested hydrostati:ally and under steam pressure. progress on wales for trap installation. sanitary water water-loop was completed except for testing and tie-in t o existing 300 Area loop. The 8 inch fire and essentially complete. The 700 K.W. turbo-generator has been s e t Work on water treatment equipment i s 90% complete. Construction on this project i s 831 Installation of boilers #4 and #5 i s nearly complete. amplete and the completion date of October Project GL81 - Eauiljment f o r 8 Inch Slue Manufacture. sign on the installation of winches i n the vans used t o transfer slugs to the 100 Peas has been completed. prepared and when complete, a revised proposal t o cover 100 Area unloading fac il f ties will be submitted. Project GL51 - Extension of Undermound Electric Power Distribution System for 300 Area. clearance for construction personnel. Start of construction i s awaiting security Labor cost standards f o r the dry canning operasion were completed. Material cost standards f o r dry canning operation are near com-

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25 5 33 Metal Preparation Section pletion. Studies are in progress t o establish standards o f labor costs f o r miscellaneous canning and inspection operations. addition a study i s being made in cooperation with the Operations Unit to reduce labor and material handling in autoclave inspection. After having corrected some initial difficulty with the double acting air cylinders used t o actuate the pneumatic canning jacks, this equipment has operated t o date with a minimum losr of production time. ddditionsl unite are being fabricated f …