Hanford Works Monthly Report January - 1949 (Deleted)

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Hanford Operations O f f ice Henford Operet ions Off ice Hanford Operations O f f ice THIS CO CU MENT HAS EEEN SCANNED

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Tramportat ion Division ............. 58 Project Engineering Division ............ 59 Pile Technology Division ............. 72 Separatione Technology Division .......... 81 Metalurgy and Control Dilision ........... 96 Health Inetrument Divisions .............. 118 Purchasing and Stores Division ........... 161 Plant Security and Servicee Division .......... 166 Employee and Cannunity Relations Division ......... 200 Public Works Division .............. 222 Connnunity Commercial Fec ili ties Division ....... 237 Corrnnunity Housing Division ............ 241 Cornunity Safety Division ............ 2116 Community Patrol Division ............ 249 Community Activities Division ........... 263 Project and Ralated Personnel ............. 281

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A total of 53 tom of metal M E diechar@ from the three piles which attained an average operating efficiency of 90.0 percent. 275 MU WAS maintained throughout the month. A total of 81 tone of acceptable slugs was canned at a yield of 89.8 percent. The yield improvement of 2.7 percent mer December is primarily accounted for by a 2.1 percent reduction of rejects due t o non-seating through the use o f slightly smaller in diameter but longer slugs. The nominal power level of A total of 70 batches was processed through the isolation phase of the Separationz The over-all Separations waste losses averaged 2.6 percent in Continued difficulty was encountered with high waste lossee in the extraction step to the extent that eighty percent of a11 runa, in clu d hq all runs frcm BPile, were reworked at this point. problem by t h e Operating and Technical Diviaions. Intensive study is being given to this For the first time in plant history it =E neceasary t o put the re-use water system of all 100 areas into operation t o prevent ice formation in the reser - voir pump house suction flumes. from 33.09 t o 37.59. The filtered water temperture was thus increased As of January 10 an electrical peak load of 70,800 KW was established. compares w i t h previous highs of 68,200 KW in December and 62,100 KW in November. The maximum demand of 32,CNlO XW for the 66 KV system coincided with the entire project systes peak. are the prim reasone for the peaking in the past thme months. The increased housing load and unusually cold weather The Electrical and Maintenance Divisions reported reductions in backloga of incampleted work of 5 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Attention is directed tothe reduction in freight charms which continue t o be secured by the Traffic Section of t h e Trampoflation Division. reduction for the month of January amounted t o apprortimataly $60,000. The DPild remained at kO$ carbon dioxide concantration and the F Pile at 25$, while the B Pile advanced from 10 t o 2%. were in line with previow experience. annealing, for s tre a a studies on the shields, and for stopping up the gap in the F Pile shield continued. Mockup studies of vertical safety rode in diatorte d thimbles, and of the operation of the third eafety device a t high temperatures, were planned. Thermal and reactivity effects Development of means for electrical . Changes were made in the graphite purification process t o reduce plugging of feeder tubes and orifices and t o diminiah nitrogen adsorption. a strong adeorber of neutroas, was found in unpurffied graphite in significant The expansion end thermal resistivity of test hole graphite continude

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t o increase linearly, but an unexplained upturn of the electrical resistivity ha8 occurred and the implications of thie are being sought. Zoning of metal in the piles has been sham to offer significant increases in In case of complate failure of electrical power, it has been shown that continuity of Product B production can be obtained by operating three piles on the steam pumps alone. Practice rune on inert &as mixtures were made on the first extraction line f o r P-10, and operation is scheduled t o begin next month. of tritium were obtained by Argome from alloy Slug3 exposed two months. Production testing of agitation of the first by-product pre ci pite tion slurry during centrifugation, instead of the standard settling procedure, appears t o have stabilized previously erratic vaste lossas ate slightly lover level but decreased decontamiaatian has been obtained. of double-distilled EF in t h e Concentration process have uncovered no adverse effects on yields. eff sc ted in tha Isolation process by production testing. has continued t o obtain better than99.e efficiency of activity removal, with no measurable increases in presaure drops. Dissolver activity discharge has been confinned as the cdme of the apparent recontamination of sand filter discharge ha8 been confirmed as t h e cause of t h e apparent recontamination of sand filter discharge air. on the dissolve r off-gas lines, as a result of extremeb promising pilot plant Test runs with single instead Time cycle savings of m o r e than two hours have been Sand filter per f om act Steps ore being taken to install fiberglass filters A t month end, t h e 234-5 Building was approximately 5% completed in comtructicn. A major portion of acceptance procedures has been issued and a l l operatian procedure preparation is expected t o be completed during the coming month. operations task approvals of layout drawings for the Schenectady design of the Remote Mechanical Line have been granted. Bldg. 231 ha6 been essentially completed and colibrntion runa carried out. The ten gram-scale pilot line in Redox Demonatration Unit column rum made with dissolved uranium feeds fol la ring rigor- scouring and clean-aut o f the dissolver have evidenced no "Fish-ogg" feed preparetion points t o an unusually high silicon content as the possible cause of t h e poor phase disengagement. with Na2C03 and extensive purging of old IAW recycle solutions f r o m t h e system have eliminated interface "foaming" in this unit. pump t e s t stand on January 23 damaged t h e 321 Bldg. Semi-works seriously enough t o cause at lecst amnth ' e shut-darn for repairs and rehabilitation, which are proceeding a t an accelerated pacc, Investigotion of uranium metal recently used f o r Wishing of Scale-up recycled hexone An exploeion of an LAX Redox resecrch studies have continued t o demonstrate encouraging promises f o r increased ruthenium decontamfnetion by ozone volat ization and zirconium removsl by glass wool adsorption. selt solution from a modified Redox proceee t o t h e BIPO4 process by intermediate cloeed-cycle extraction haa been successfully demonstrated in t h e laboratory. 7 An extremely stable oxidized plutonium for Column IIA feed hes been prepered causing emulsffAcation with hexone has been effected da the lab gat pv by adsorption on filter aids. The possibility of coupling a reduced plutonium Removal of unknown components of diasolved m n i u m feed solution

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Production r o l l - of uranium rods for H~Tnfordwas conducted et Lockport, N. y., and Aliquippa, Pa., under technical supemision by the 300 Area Plant Assistance Lockport in February and at Aliquippa in March. The AEC (New York Office) has arranged t o assume this responsibility a t Two 300 Area metal fabrication process changes which have been under technical development were put into practice: (1)The pickling of urenim turnings for reworking through t h e melt plant; and (2) R chmge in alpha rolled slug dinensiona as required t o compensete for the diameter increase and length decrease which this metal undergoes during triple - dip ccnning. High frequency induction heating of uranium slugs is being investigsted a s .?n attractive alternate to the triple - dip method for effecting structural transformation. Very promising reaults a r e being obtained. The T Plcnt Control b bore tory concluded a two-month trial use o f rubber gloves for allan ely t ical work involving radioactivity. Since gloves were fomd t o reduce hand contaimination without in cree s iq equipment contamination, their use has been mde standard in all 200 Area em ly t ical leborntories. Several steps were taken t o meet the increasing needs for experimental fabric at i or machine shops with Q view toward fcrming-out most item in the large backlog o f work against the present small technical shop in Building 3706. were m&de t o place t h i s shop and the Instrument Divisions Shop (Building 3717) on shifts a8 rapidly as edditional machinists can be procurred. expinding the technical shops is in preparation. Tho force increased by fifteen in t h e H. I Divisions. Once Class I Specie1 Hazards Incident was reported, and did not involve serious conesquences. The Operational Division reported surrey findings t h a t indicated increased frequency of contamination of personnel cnd work areas. of "water, air, and vegetation were normal. was atopped for three days t o determine the specific cause of failures in the process and t o eliminete these causes. The maximum uranium content found i n the urine of the 300 Area workers was 82Pl liter. F i n a l settlement of a group of orders cancelled et the request 'of the Project Engineering Division was =de during the month. Visits were made t o the Bramerton N4vy Y ~ r dand t o several cammercial This is notably true in the 100 In the Control a d Development Division, e an ly t ical results on eemples The Bioasaey Laboratory production The Commission notified us - atthe Voluntary Steel Allocation Plen had Seen extended t o cover t h e period Mcrch 1, 1949, through August 31, 1949. Orders were placed for first quarter deliver j of seven ccrlonds of blcck and gnlvonized Responsibility for the Paeco General Depot wns t o be assumed by the Surplus, Salvage and Screp Division as of February 1, 1949, with t h e exception of Warehouse No. 7 which is wed by t h e National G u a r d and Usrehouse no. 1 containing Construct ion materials. There were two major injuries in Januory. A total of 13 fire nlarms, ten of which'vere in Construction arsas. resulted i n losses to t cling $170.

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Effective Janwl-Jr 3 , 1999, the 2OO-West Area Laundry returned t o a five-day week operat ion. Through a cambination of duties of Patrolmen and Fireman a t the Pasco Vqrehouse Area, a reduction of ten firemen vas effected. Discuaaiohe of Employment practices and procedures and employee benefit plans, were conducted by representatives of Employae Services with t h e instructors in t h e 9-Point Job Improvement Program. The stctement by Chcrles E. Wilson before t h e Joint Coninittee on t h e Economic Report and one set of questions and answers were distributed to all suparvisors participating in the program. Open requisitions f o r sdditional personnel decreased fran 388 a t the beginning of the month t o 262 a t t h e end of Jmuary. This reduction is due primarily to transfer of requisitions for scientific personnel tothe Technical Pereonnel Employee Services (Ztamselors made 1,938 contacts during J ~ n u a 4 . retired and-four employee deaths occurred during January. Two hundred t h i r t y - seven suggestion awarda, to i elf ng $280, were grented during the month. *conference between representat ives of t h e Atomic Enera Commission, Washington State Depertment of Labor and Industries, and t h e General Eleccric Company resulted in a decision t o make no change in the present specin1 Workmen e Compensation Agreement with the State. T o t e l plant roll increased during Jclnup.4 by 60 employees. Several meet inga were held with representat ives of t h e Nnt ional L.;bor Relet ions Board and representetives of t h e Atomic Metal Trades Council. As R result of these meetings, a stipulation for a consent election ma filed on JRnUmrY 26. The election to determine whether cz rta in employees of the Manufacturing, Services, Cammunity and Technical Divisiona wented the Atomic Metal Trades Council t o represent them in collective bargaining mc.tters was scheduled for A request for preparation of c project proposal was issued t o the Project Enginearing Division t o covsr alr. horn warning signals for Richland and North Traffic eccidente increcsed forty percent during J?:nunry 1949, was due largely to snow and ice on the streets. The increase Twenty-seven c l a m in Richland and seventeen in North Richlmd were answered. These fires reaulted in dcmage of $2,972.64 t o project property and $1,163.98 The reap on sibi lit y for fire prevention atthe Coveknent cfrport was taken over on Janunry 24 by the Community Fire Division. Thawing services on w e t e r gipes were required in approximately 1,200 individuel cases ea 8 resuit of prolonged sub-freezing weather. Fuel deliveries were extremely heavy. during t h e month. Over 10,000 tons of coal were delivered Also,.243,553 g ~ - llon aof fuel oil were delivered.

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Two hundred twenty-eight n e w 4 constructed rench tjlpe housee were csmplcted and made aveirclble for occupmcy, Three hundred forty-four leasee were writ tm Coneiderable progress f a be- mde by several churches tmrd completion of their respective church etructures. There was no evidence of injury t o any employee during the month due t o Employee physical emminations continued t o decreaee slighcly while the number of first nid treatments remained pr act ic nll y constant. Total absenteeism VBS 2.81$ while that due t o sickness only me 1.8% as compared t o 1.7% for December. Fourteen major and 75 sub-major injuries were trected. O f theae, 2 majors end The hefilth topic for Jnnuury was "Heart Disease". T.ha average dcily hospital census w.s 115, 3 new peck. the north Richlmd Hospital was 19 (13of the total 115). This was e - 1 4 increase The averege daily census c t Jenuary 1948; 3% of this total va8 tre c ted in the Nw th Richland Medical This was a 7"$ increase over Dental Clinic vie its increased by 3$ t o 3,218. Chickenpox cont hued t o be the lecdlng communicable disease. vere a at is fsc tory. Scnitary conditions Finoncia1 statement8 for Banford Works and f o r the Nucleonics Department were prepsred and issued on January 26, 1949 f o r the month o f December, 1948. Operating reports for t h e month of December 1948, for the General Divisions were issued on ~ apuar y21, 1949. Year-end work for which the Payroll Divisions wee responsible necessitated a planned overtime schedule of 48 hours per week for four weeks during January. Approximately 6200 Pension Plan contribution record cards were balanced end reports t o t h e Pension Divieion were made; withholding statements (form W-2) were prepared and issued t o 10,573 employees end former employees on Janucry 14; Federal Socicl …