Hanford Works Monthly Report for September 1951 (Deleted)

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FOLDER Compiled By Opersted for the &ner=;;rSoinmission THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE

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Knolls ntomic Power h bork tory bolls Atomic Power Laboratory Word Operations Office Word Operations Office

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TABLE OF CONTZUTS General Sui ix q..............................4 Manufacturin De ment........................ 18 Pile Techno log Unit..................... 13 Sepcrrations Technology Unit.................. 78 Design and Construction Section .................. 126 General Accounting Section ..................... 179 Pau fac turing .rccounti.ng iec tion.................. 200 Engineering Accounting Zection ................... 292 Utilities and Genera Services Depart in t Plant Security and Sen&= Section ................ 209 aec tr icd Distribution and Telephone Section ........... 265 Community Real Estate and Services Department ...... 295 Housing and Real Estate Yafntenance Unit .......... .Real Estate Engineering Unit................ .Commercial a d Other Froperty Unit ............. .700. 1100. 3000 Area Scrvices 2ection Project and Related Personnel ..........

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Najor. Changes i n Organization During July, August and September there uere several major changes i n organization and nomenclature, many of which were i n accord w i t i a company-wide plan which Was mads effective during this period of time. apparent from a comparison of the Tables of Contents of the re7orts f o r J d Y and The !Vuclsonics Division is a major organizational branch of the General a ect ric Division is itself divided into eight Departments, which a r = > % a - di. ~ ded Study of the two Ta5les of Contents mentioned above w i l l show the manner in which the numerous r"onaer divisions have been regrouped i n t o the eight present Departments. It is t o be noted particularly that the IlIanufacturing Department has relinquished its func+,ion of nanagirg the electrical distribution and telephone system t o the new Utilities and General Services Department, and has assumed the management of the operational aspects of the former Health Instrument Divisions. It has also made red ics l changes i n its internal orgar,ization t o inprove direct managerial control of muf sc turing costs. The changes i n nomenclature are The moTe important ones are aa follows: This Division operates a physical plant knm aa Ha.rL-rd Xorks. The The Sections are, in turn, divided into Units .- Although the nunber of ruptured f u e l slugs increased t o 13, cowmed with 9 and 10 for the previous two months, the associated loss I n production time was but 263 hours, largely because of removal within the scram recovery time lin'tit. Operations i n the various plants attained the followin; percentages of forecasts: canning, 100%; pile discharge, 126% (highest disck-rge in his tom) ; pluto ~ m Improved control of iodine emission from the separations plants continued during the month, although m increase was noted i n the activity of vcgetation i n the Surrounding country. There was no notable deviation from established patterns i n othcr phases of control activities. A new high was achieved in inaxinnun p i l e operating level. Personnel and Services The t*mnover rate for the plat rem-ins f zi rly steady, being 2.46% i n September, but the plant roll continues t o incrzcsc, cttcdning 8,396 in September. The 2hicf Oporntors voted qz.inst xp res c ntz tion by the LVC. The Richlmd a d Expansion and Construction Procurement has been initi2.ted on approximtely 83% of d.1 material and equipmen% required for 'lC" plat.

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Construction work was begm on the Liorm znd :'ilcs Building,a unit of the Works Laboratory Ama. Construction of t h e %chcclnical Ikvelopment Building was completed except for the iritcrfor. Construction was delqyed by a continuing short qo of certain crafts. The addition t o iGdlec Hgspital is about 85% complete. The Hot Semi-works reached 2b$ of completion. Engineering and Tochnolopy A review of the nuclear safety hazards i n the separztions -processes indicates that the batch sizes in both the Redax and Bismuth Phospnate Flats probabl;r CW An auto mt ict it rat or has been plrced in routinc service fort - program of research on control methods, possesses advantages oi' versatility, precision and spced, :nd is but one of a series of instruments under development f o r the imprwcmcnt of process control. This instrument, which wzs devcloped during the camsc of a lelzrgcr

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Xanager, Schenectady Office ............... 3. R, Frentice Assistant to the General ?knager, General Administration 8 G. (2. Assistant t o the General kcager, Technical ,,... W. I. Patnode

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No. Richland Realty Admin l strat ive Reect or Sect io= Elect. Diet. & Tele Sec. Plant Sec. & Services Purchas. & Stores Sectior. * In clc dee 36 Corn. Fzremen

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Effective September 1, 1951, personnel handling radiation monitoring work i n the areas were transferred t o the Manufacturing Department, forming the Radiation Monitoring Units of the Reactor and Separations Sections and a staff office in the Metal Preparation Section. Personnel formerly reporting t o the Plant Industrial Ehgineer were assigned t o the Sections during the Several discussion me2tings and area visitations were schedul6d for 34 representatives of utilities and commercial companies on the sub;ji.ct of The Metal Preparation Section forecasted t o t a l of 105 tons of acceptable pieces was canned at a yield of 76.4 percent. failures during Septmbcr. a yield of 91.1 percent and a solid yield of 9k.8 percent. yield of 7k.7 percent was adversely d fec ted by the very poor quality of The Reactor Section achieved a total maximum pile operating level s& racJ above the previous high. Tkerc wcrE no autoclave The melt plant produced 23 tons of billets at A total of llb tons of metal was discharged during the Tho remaining E-10 load was discharged. The production input w a s lOL.8 porcciit of the iorocast wfiile the output was 128.0 percent of for c cist, which rep rcs mts the luge st mount ever pushed i n any one month. P-13 target slug with2result mt loss of 262.5 hours of production time. On tkee occasions it m s possible t o discharge the ruptured slugs within the scram recovery tine limit with 2 resultmt sarino of approximtely 70 There was a total of a ruptured slugs,d clu ding one A total of 129 charges plus two acLd washes was starT;+,din the Canyon Suildings mich represents 100,d 2ercent of forecast Buildings completed 130 charges and two acid washes. charges plus two acid washes and 10 special charges was processed through the Isolation Building. A total of 126 regular Production was 102 percent of forecast. The average cooling time was L8 days w i t h the minimum being kl days. average purity J f completed charges was 98.9 percent. The

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All persona engat@ in els that might r&&nably be eq ec ted to result in inventions or discoveries advise that, to the beat of‘ their knowledge and belief, no inventions or discoveries were W e in the course of their work duri-n& the period covered by t h i s report except as listed below. persons further advise thrrt, for the period therein covered by this re2ort, notebook records, if any, kept in the come of their work have been exmined for poseible inventions or discoverisa.

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In aceordance with the reorganization of the Manufacturing Department, effective September U, 1951 Radiation Monitoring senrices were established fbr the Metal Preparation Section, consisting of former H. I. Effective September 10, 1 9 9 , the responsibility f o r operation of the Design and Construction Managemerit Section. Responsibility f o r operation of the 300 Area car pool was transferred t o the Utilities and General Services Department, Transportation Section, 11. ACHIEVEMWT - OPEIWTIOIJS UNIT Operating Exp erience Bare Pieces Machined (Tons) Oxide Burned (Weight out Tons) Acceptable Pieces Canned (Tons) Acceptable Pcs. Canned ( 5 of Forecast) Melt Plant Billet Yield ($) Melt Plant Solid Yield ( 5 ) Chip Recovery Yield (;')

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The Melt Plant, Chi? Rr-covery and Slug continued throughout the month wlthout Recovery operations were incident. During the month, nine ton6 of raw oxides were proceesed through the oxlde burner. ber 24, the yogram for burning the large backlog of expended graphite parts f'rom the Melt P l a n t (MD-4 oxide) was cowletad. The ttrcLIlf'um machined during the month was medominantly "Ut't p 6 material which had been rolled during June and August. quality of this material wns poor. avo-ng seven inches i n length, irregular swfacea, a e m ; cracks znd be of pooror quality than material rolled in June. taken t o improve "es receIveC" rod quality Defect6 consisted of rough ends Bndam eauqles of material rolled in August were found t o Canning production ma lOC$ of the forecastoa amount. The increase i n production was duo t o the operation of on0 canning l i n e on the 4-12 shift throughout the month and afive per cent increase I n the canning yield. Tho incrsase i n the canning yield wcs achieved by reducing the number of dc-ces rejectod for deviltions front he ekndard process, HIarred Burfsce m d AlSi on tho outside of thc can. techniqb znd close supervieory follow up were responsible f o r the DkaJar portion of thle improvemnt. None of the slugs te sbd for w net ration during: the month were found Thore were no autochve failures duriw the month. slugs hme beon autoclaved since the kat fciluro. A total of 93,937 The 305 test Tile operllfied normalb throughout the month. twenty three routine znd 40 swcic?l tests wre run. days wore devoted t o control roG re-czli3rn.tio:: Seven and one h d f During the month 2,525 wison md 240 Chem. 1046 pieces were canned. In adtition, 116 mzn hours were devoted t o the fsbricction and hmdling of epecinl request z nter iala. The poduction of machined bcm slugs wns -pp-oximtelT: 4 per cent below the forecnetod mount and w,.a cmsed by Q. failure t o procure the

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the welding olectrodc with rogmd t o the cap rind will produce welds of more uniform quality. This device will etmdarclize tho positioning of A11 -?eople i n the Operctions Unit ewpeoc? i n work which might be expocted tore eu lt in inventions o r discoverics 1r.v~reported tkt no Inventions or Olecoverice wcro ~ d . eduring thc jwrlod covered by t h i s k xi mum stem 8enerctec)L

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White Bluffs Ice Plant Current shop work loads consist of: Instrument iblachine Shop Electronic Fabrication Shop Mechanical Development Shop Ifan Hours Crew Weeks Project C-U (P-12 Exponential Pile Program) was closed, decreasing the backlog f o r the Mechanical Development Shop by 1000 man hours. Future graphite fabrication will be done i n the 101 Building a t The 300 Area steam plant was shut down completely on September 9. A l l main and auxiUary steam header valves in the power house were the 313 and 31L buildings s o t h a t these buildings could be isolated A 4-inch sectional valve was installed inthe loop between Equipment We rien ce There were five ;ieatmg element failures in the Process Canning furnaces inthe 313 Building during this month. hgto improve, if possible, the typ elements used to effect a reduction in t h e number of failures. A ventilation system was installed to eliminate fumes a t welder statims i n the 313 Building. tubing, and funnels provide suction t o each individual welder t o carry away the fumes. The Automatic Canning unit designed by the Industrial Ehgineering group, intended t o acconplish mechanical timing cycle on the canning operation, was completed and demonstrated. The working committee on this subject w i l l advise what future action should An exhaust fan, flexible Glass seals for collecting electrodes o f miniature, metal, radiation counting tubes have been successfully produced by platinizing the tip and shoulder of Pyrex capillary tubing sections t o form a base forth2 metallic bond.

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All peo3le in the Plnnt-EMineering Unit engaged in work which might be expected t o result i n inventions o r discoveries h3vo reported that no inventions or discoveries were =de during the period covored by thie report. Plant Development and Em?-sion Final lam and epecificctions were cpgrwed September 21. Sevorzl epecific itens, such as boilers and turbo generztor, were 2. Industrial mering cad Studies The Gener..-l Engineering Laboratory hcs indic c tet3 aost of $60 000 t o $80,000 to cover the e ql nee rf ng involvec in de a ign iq =. mercury Dove lop nt Engineer visited the k.bor0Utar-y t o diecuss the tosig. znd fzbricctlon probloms i n connection with this switch. There WCB one eub-mr.jor injury; no mj or injuries the month. Rzdiztion E qom re No incidents D f personnel over-eqoeuro occured hriq the nsnth.

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Efgective September 1, 1951, the Radiation Monitoring Unit was esteblished within the Resctor Section. prised o f the survey facilities and personnel fsrmerly assigned t o the Radiohgical Sciences De mm nt, Operational Sec tim sewing the Manufkcturing Depertment i n the 100 Areas. The Unit is responsible for the radiation monitoring o f persame1 associated with the Reactor Section program. The new unit is comThe aUt3mOtiW repair and service functions of the Plant Engineering Unit were transfeFed ts the Utilities and General Services Department on Sept?mber LO, 1951. The total reactor prfiuction (input) MS 4.q wer the forbcast but was 2.1% Less than the t a t a l f3r August due primarily t:, the shorter work month. At at al increase o f 52 MW mer previously established lpaxinnxn pile operating levels m s achieved duriag the month by improved temperature control techniques and continued annealing o f the graphite moderator. There were 14 slug jacket failures during September, D f which 13 were uranium slugs and one was a p-LO target slug. 262.5 hours 3f :,utage time was chargeable t o the removal ~ ~ e rations. On 3 5ccasims the ruptured slugs were discharged within the scram rec3vez-y time limitation, permitting an immediate resumptim 3f operation. It is eetimrited that these discharges, made poseible since the ruptured slugs did not bind i n the tube, reduced the total potential mt-age time by approximately 70 hours,

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Reactm outage ~ i m c ours) Reactor Unscheduled Outege * Of this amunt 95.8 hours resulted from an isolation and repair program related t o pmcess water leaks i n tubes 0830-F and 0893-F. The prellmfnary work neceseary f3r feeding aLm.ium sulfate caagulant a t the 100-F Araa Filtration Plant vas cmpleted during the month. Included the re-activatim 3f unused chemical feed lines and the fabri - catisn a f two Ze3lite water softeners t s be used fDr lime slurry set fsrth in Froductim Test No. 105-473-P, Document Hw-21924, as 80311 a8 pmductlon apprsval i e obtained. Aluminum sulfate feed will be started under the cm d it ims The entire reminder o f the H-LO l x ding was discharged frm H Reactor dusing the 2utsge 3f …