Monthly Report Hanford Atomic Products Operation for May 1954 (Deleted)

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Operated for t h e Atomic Energy Commission General Electric Company THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRiVE Read By DateRoute To

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Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office . Atomic Energy Commission

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Health and Safety ..................... Community Real Estate .................. Plant Auxiliary Operations Department

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HANFOKD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION I n the Metal Preparation Section production of normal material for the month was 93 percent of forecast. Lower than forecasted production was due principally t o major changes in the bare slug inspection method. The overall canning yield for May was 82.7 percent. The use of the Zyglo method for inspection of bare slugs was instituted during The canning of the Ill-Li alloy slugs (N) and the enriched f u e l slugs (J) w a s The total mactor input plutonium production was 10&percent of the official forecast and the output w a s 132 percent of forecast. uranium slugs and one “CW slug. I A * total of 19 ruptures occurred during May including 18 normal The Redox production for the month was 132 percent of forecast and theT plant was production was 169 percent of forecast. A l l commitments f o r 2%-5 production were TBP production uas 189 percent o f the official forecast. UO3 facility Enqinee ring Tec hnol ogy Total design for cc-558, Reactor Plant Modification for Increased Production, advanced t o 18.2 percent completion during May. Kith revisions to the condensor design for the Purex Tank Fram, Projec? CA-513. Design effort on CA-5& w a s expedited i n order t o complete major elements of the 313 Building during the month. 313 Building structure and equipment is approximately 97 percent co.nplete. The local Building Trades council called a work stoppage by all construction craftsmen on May 5, 195L as a protect against the presence of Cisco Constxction Company, a non-union contractor. On May 7, the AEC stopped work being performed by Cisco on the 151-KW and KE substations and the Recuplex CAW Facility, and the construct ion craftsmen returned t o work . Thirty-six informal, h Class I and 3 Class Ii radiation incidents were recorded. Authorization was received t o proceed T o t a l design is 95 percent complete. Design of the Personnel and Services There w a s one major injury recorded during the month of May. The employee separation rate decreased .67 percent for April t o .6& percent for As of May 31 there were 280 housing applications pending.

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Applied Re search 121 Electrical Dist. & Telephone Administration Main. Service General & Personnel Accounting Real Estate Services Ehployee & Public Relations Dept.

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METAL PREPARATION SECTION The net production of acceptable slugs was 239 tons vhich was 93 percent of t h e diversion of a portion of personnel t o expedite new inspection methods incorporating the use of Zyglo. as four-inch material with canning yields being 83.5 percent &d 79.4 percent r e - spectively. The eight-inch canning y i e l d decreased 1.8 percent from the previous month, t h e major causes for operation being marred surfaces, poor bonds and bad welds. . Fabricating defects such as seams and striations in uranium slugs have given evidence of being possible causes of split-type ruptures. tion of this type of defect during bare slug inspection the use of Zyglo was started early in the month on an experimental basis. penetrant was s e t up in the routine inspection operation. rate resulting from the more rigid inspection was approx ttel y21 percent. On May 24 the capning of lithium a l l o y slugs was discontinued. these slugs vas canned during t h e month with a yield of 87 percent. of enriched uranium-aluminum alloy fuel slugs for the tritium program was also d is - coEtinued on May 28 with a monthly production of 4243. The lower than average canning yield of 69.5 percent resul$ed from t h e canning of approximately 50 percent recovered The production was below forecast principally because of the A t o t a l of 209 tons was canned as eight-inch slugs and 30 tons order to facilitate the detecOn May 12 the use of t h i s fluorescent The bare slug rejection A total of 1941 of The total input plutonium production was 104 percent of the official forecast. output productior, was 132 percent of the forecast and exceeded the forecasts because of the large discharges resulting from the downward adjustmer?cs in goal concentra- %ions made Eecessary IJJ the slug rupture rate. The overall reactor operating efficiency was 80.3 percent, baing adversely affected by the outag9s resulting from 19 ruptures and by a prolonged outage associated w i t h process tube leak test hg. Tke establish&! maxhun operating levels, excluding en ric ba ' , burnout, were increased a t o t a l of 51 MW during the month. This increase (Pu + J/N) was attained a t C Reactor as the combbed resldt of increased intermediate tube power limits, increased t o t a l reactor m%er flow, and flattening improvements foliowing elimination, of the centrai

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temperature adversely siiected power levels. irradiated uranium at two concentrations continued as originally planned, 88 tons of m e t a l being discharged at the law concentrstion and 2l.6 a t the higher concentration. A t the other reactors, increased inlet water The program f o r discharging normal A total of 19 slugs railed at a ~ .reactors Uing MY, including 18 uranium slugs ing from the ruptures was 513.9 hours. The average concentration of the ruptured The total outage time resultDuring May a total of 28 reactor scrams occurred. F and H Reactors were caused by normal panellit system difficulties. resulted from a short circuit a t a junction box and the subsequent outage WES 38.1 circulation facility, and one resulted from the malfunctioning reg ub tor on e water rec ir cub tion study. Three scrams occurred at C Reactor, one caused by a water pressure surge during a pump change et 19O-C, a second caused by improper Beckmnn by-passing and a third by aflow adjustment in a production $est tube. One scmm at D Reactor resulted when a vertical rod slipped out of the upper limit switch. Total outage time charged t o the scrams was 47.1 hours. Two of three scrams a t H Reactor were caused by incidents in the P-13 reThk offsite ship ct of the irradiated J material continued throughout the month. The test irradiation program for thorium a t the H Reactor progressed satisfactorily, with less than one percent of the reactor proauction involved. During May, extensiye work related t o horizoctal rods contixued a t B, DR and F Areas. AtB Area, thimbles No. 4-B and 74,bh nh doff in Aprfi, were removed and replaced. Thimble Eo. 3-B,found t o be leaking in April but l e f t ir service, was blanked off for later replacement. half of the way into the reactor, and was removed from service. a t B reactor has reauced daily gas losses from approximately 30,000 cu. ft. t o 7-DR and 8-DIi were fousd t o be leaking. D u r a a scram, rod KO. 6-B became stuck epproximately oneRecezt tnimble work A t DR Reactor a l l thimbles were pressure tested, and Xos. 2-DR, 4-DR, None of the thimbles were replace6 since

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their remonl is scheduled In August. AtF Reactor, thimble No. 2-F was removed and replaced, and No. A-F was removed, but attempts at replacement d u r a two outages wcre unsuccessful due t o graphite binding. Three major Frocess tube leaks were found and comected during the month, on2 a t 2;allons da tH for the two leaks was 930 gallons. The water collectior a t F was approxinrately 360 The Redox production was 132 percent of the official forecsst for the month. T P l a n t production of low g/t product vas 126 percent of the forecast. The Redox plant, except for rate reduction to5 and 6 tons per day for short periods, maintained an opersting rate of 7 tons per day u n t i l May 14 when %he columns were shut down for columrs flus-. sumed at a 7 ton/day r a t e u n t i l May 20 when a waste line leak in the 2 4 1 4 diversion box necessitated another shutdown. reduced rate of 5 tons per day due t o feed preparation difficulties which limited h crease to7tom per day on May 27. A t month end, a leak that had developed in the 3-4 oxidizer pot c o i l was resulting in irregular rates varying from 5 t o 7 tons product was placed in operation on May 24. The concentrated salt wastes from Redox were divefied $0 the new 241-SX tank farm on May 19. Following a twelve hour shutdown,operation was reOn May 23 the plant was started, but a t a InstaUation of aaew centrifuge feed tank j-er permitted arate The silica gel experimental unit for decontamAnation of high gamma uranium m e TBP pLant production established a new record which was 189 percent of the total outage time was 55 hours on the A line for vessel flushing and replacement of the RA colrtapl feed pump and 39 hours on the B line for vessel flushing. instantaneous rate of 17 30ns per day was attained, a?ld the total proauction averaged 11 tons per day f o r tke month. The operation was nearly continuous throughout the month. The The T mt operation was essentially normal with low concentration metal being processed throqhout the eat ire month. m e TJOa facility production was 163 percent of the official forecast. 13 car3 of powder was shipred o f f site. The 234-5 commitmest of shapes was the commitment of the unfabricated buttons vas attained. prodution for shipment was also produced. and 100 percent of The required nitrate

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The waste evaporators operated throughout t h e month with volume reductions of 33.6 percent atB and 34.3 percent a t T. The mate metal removal rate was hlghLy satisfactory throughout the mntt: dth an average of 1 1 . 5 tons per day. centage of t& material vith minor quantities from the U farm. A small amount of 2.8 year o l d supernate from the ll4-rrt tank was blended with the nonualTBP feed and was processed througfi the plant on a single cycle. was satisfactory but conclusive test results were not possible due t o the Umitcdamopnt of the material processed, The supernate from the first cycle waste in tank ll0, UYU2-BX was cribbed. These tanks are essentially empty with only a small amount of sludge remaining. There was no production a t the Tritium Extraction Facility due t o the delay a t the request of the AEC in the discharge of feed material. The feed for both evaporators was TBP Total on RoU May 1, 1954 Total on RoU May 31, 1954

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A l l persons engaged in work that might reasonably be expected t o result in inventions o r discoveries advise that, t o the best o f their knowledge and belief, no inventions o r discoveries were made in the course of t h e i r vork during the period covered by this report except therein covered by this report, notebook records, if any, kept in the course of their vork have been examined for possible inventions Such persons further advise that, f o r the period J. R. Young, Reactor Section Tubular Reactor Process Tube Dummy Slugs

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The Parer and Jkintenance Sub-section assumed the responsibility for Janitorial services for 300 Area on May 17, 1954, involving one exempt and 23 non-exempt personnel. The responsibility of the Procese Sub-section was changed during April t o include process confonasace for product uniformity a t the FMPC rolling mill. is being fulfilled by examination of metallurgical samples a t FMPC by Hanf'ord observers. Acceptable Pieces Canned (4")(Tons) Net Acceptable Pieces Canned (8")(Tons)Gross Acceptable Pieces Canned (8")(Tons)Net Total Acceptable Pieces Canned (Tons)Gross Total Acceptable Pieces Canned (Tons)Net IV Slugs Canned (pieces) Special Request (man hours) 305 Routine Tests (man hours) 305 Special Tests (man hours)

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Wtal Preparation Section Marlmum Steam Generated (M lbs/hr) 42.0 47.0 Total Steam Generated (M lbs) 16800 23100 Am rage Rate (8M) 1042 952 Sanitary Water from 3000 Area (million gals) 46.5 42.5 Total Water frm 3000 Area The net production of acceptable slugs was 239 tons of which 87 percent were approximately 14 tons of bare --inch slugs on hand are canned. Put- productIan of canned slugs will be all eight-inch after !f!he eight-inch capning y i e l d decreased 1.8 percent from the previous month, the major cauaes for rejection being marred suriace, poor bond, and bad weld. The four-inch canning yield increased 14.4 percent as a result of a large reductian in poor bonds. Fabricating defects such as seam aad striations in uranium slugs have given evldence of being possible causes of split-type p i l e ruptures. the frequency of these ruptures on acceptable slugs as well as to facilitate the detection of these defects a t bare slug Inspection, the use of Zyglo inspection was started early in Msy on an experimental basis. used in conjunction with the pickle inspection. In order t o reduce The Zyglo inspection has been Based upon a preliminary Zyglo inspection of about 600 slugs, it became apparent that two categories of acceptable slugs were necessary and these were desi-ted as C l a s s W and Class X. Under this inspection method, the Class W slugs were defined as so& slugs being visually free of all surface defects. slugs contained minor striations and 8- seam. In dew of the expected high quality of these Class W slugs, a production test is planned by the Reactor Section t o determine the exposure levels possible with slugs which are free of visible defects. Since the present quality level of as-received bare uranium slugs does not permit enough Class W slugs t o completely charge the reactors, Class X slugs are also accepted. In order f o r the Reactor Section t o use two categories of material, sufficient quantities of each must be available t o be of practical value. 15 tans of slugs have been inspected and it appears that approximately 51$ of the slugs would be classified as W, 2% as X, and 21$ as reject. interpretative nature of the inspections, it l a anticipated that these relative quantities may vary with as-received slug quality. Because of the More stringent bare slug inspection standards have doubled the bare slug rejection r a t e and reduced the working inventory of material available for caZming. There were no autoclave failures during the month.

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Metal Preparation Section A …