Hanford Laboratories Monthly Activities Report - September 1964

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THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION

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fhii report was prepared as an account of Government sponsored work Neither the United States, nor the Commission, nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission A. Ma&& any warranty or representation, empressed or implied, with r a p e dto the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained in this report, or that the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report may not infringe privately owned rights; or Assumes any liabilities with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report. As used in the above, "penon acting on behalf of the Commission' includes any employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor, to the extent that such employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor prepares, disseminates, or provides access to, any information pursuant to his employment or contract with the Commission, or his employment with

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MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPORT P. R. No. Location Route Date Signature and Dze HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION This report was prepared only for use within General Electric Company i n the course of work under Atomic Energy Com miss lon Contract AT(45- 1)- 1350. Any views or opinions expressed in the report are those of the author only. Excluded from automatic downgrading and de classification

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Force Report and Personnel Status Changes ........... iv Reactor and Fuels Laboratory Physics and Instruments Laboratory Biology L abo rat ory < Applied Mathematics Operation Radiation Protection Operation Finance and Administration Operation Test Reactor and Auxiliaries Operation

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BUDGET AND COST SUMMARY September operating costs totaled $2, 758, 000, an increase of $162, 000 Fiscal year - t o - date costs aggregate $7, 995, 000 o rf rom the previous month. 22% of the current control budget forFY 1965. Hanford Laboratories research and development costs for September compared with the previous month and the current control budget are shown thousands) Month Month To Date Budget Spent (Dollars in Current Previous 70 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 1. Reactor and Fuels The swelling resistance of iron - aluminum stabilize duran lu m when irradiated to 1530 Mwd / ton was substantially better than normal uranium under identical conditions. A coproduct driver element test irradiated to 1850 Mwd/ton inb:reased 3 . 370 i n volume, but no clad or cio sure instablllty was apparent upcn rzd - o -

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A method to prevent bonding between lithium -aluminum core material and aluminum cladding at the high reductions encountered in production extru - sion presses has been demonstrated. barrier for tritium. Nonbonding is desired as a diffusion The fabrication of beryllium - zirconium b razing alloy wire by suc - ces sive co extrusion was successfully accomplished. Nickel-plated aluminum fuel elements are being irradiated in the Fretting corrosion of anN - Reactor process tube was observed in a n out - o f - reactor loop test 'as a result of the vibration of fuel elements and a space r against the tube. This was the first observance of fretting in out-ofreactor loop tests where an external vibration was not applied t o the process Analyses of laboratory experiments indicate that anN - Reactor front connector break would not result in large pressure surges but would give sufficient indication of the incident f o r detection. A fuel element band broken from a long exposure PR TR fuel rod cluster showed evidence of corrosion up to1mil in depth at crevices. Hydrogen content near the fracture exceeded 200 ppm. The technical design criteria for the PRTR High Power Density (HPD:, Core were issued for comment. loading to HPD loadings are being prepared. Transition plans from the present PR TR Fuel elements for the PRTR high-power-density core are being fabriFour standard PR TR fuel elements are ready for irradiation .c ated. Initial fretting corrosion tests of the PR TR Mark1 fuel element for the proposed high power density core indicated a relationship between the rotational position of the fuel and fretting.

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Tube power calculations for the PRTR high power density core indicated permissible tube powers ranging upward from 2500 kw depending on inlet coolant conditions and flow rate. Aluminum samples,some contaminated with boric acid, suspended in the gas space above the moderator of the PRTR, showed little weight change during a 1000-hr exposure to moist ED20:B helium. Ceramic fuel washout studies were performed in anout - o f - reactor cated by the Vipac process, and irradiated to 5000 Mwd / ton in PRTR.After 14-day exposure to water at 300 C, 1650 psi, and 13 fps, the fuel washout through a slit 1 - 1 / 2 in. long by I / 16 in. wide h a s b e e n negligible, as determined by activity readings throughout the loop. Examination of three leaking and one nonleaking PRTR tube-nozzle gaskets revealed stress cracking in the spiral rings of the gaskets. cause of the cracking has not been determined. Maximum calculated exposures of the 12in - reactor (MTR? and 20 discharged EBWR prototype fuel rods are 3. 1 x lo2' fission s / cm3 11, 300 Latest observations indicate the unprotected, zirconium cxide -free surfaces on the inner surface of a fuel rod(such as weld areas) are part ic - ul a rly susceptible to catastrophic gas - phase hydriding at tz ck. If hydrogenproducing contaminates are present in the fuel material,a crevice 1s nct essential for the reaction to occur. Power generation corrections for the Mark SX-B U02fuL length inverted cluster fuel element indicate that the maximum tube pcw3r was

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A full length rod with a swaged U02core contaminated with 165 m g of Afour - rod cluster designed to demonstrate the feasibility of rep lazing individual rods in PR TR elements was fabricated for irradiation in the MTR. Studies are continuing on characterizing potential fast reactor fuel theBe0matrix was bonded regardless of whether o r not MgO had been added as a sintering aid, and the fast neutron activity resulting from the alphaneutron reaction was not intense enough to present a radiation hazard even though the nickel coating had not remained intact. pacted thin wall UO ranging from 1000 t o 2000 psi at 400 C for a maximum of 64 hr. tube-in-tube fuel element was autoclaved at pressures impaction and will be further reduced by hot extrusion at an area reduzt.lcn 3 - 1 / 2 in. long) with powder stainless end caps were fa br kate d by pneuma''-L* - High purity uranium specimens of several geometries ir radi a xd :n the beta phase (about 700 C)to 0.05% burnup exhibited v c - ume in cr - alirs varied from 10 to 60, which are smaller than those observed with high purity nvt (thermal) is very similar to the defect structure observed in the nonirradiated, as - extruded foils. The defeet structure observed in uranium foi k irradiated to 10 The Materials Engineering high - temperature helium loop in the 3i4 Building was operated near the maximum design va!ue of 2000 F In +hc t:st

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section. Performance characteristics of metallic foil insulation in flowing helium-information urgently needed for the design of the Advanced Test Reactor Helium Loop-was obtained before it was necessary to shut down the loop because of aleak between the primary piping and the shroud piping. Operation of all components exceeded expectations. Application of thermodynamics to the problem of brittle fracture has yielded certain relationships in close agreement with experimental data and provided insight into the fracture governing the ductile - t o - brittle transition of metals and the em brittle ment of metals through irradiation. An electrolytic oxygen probe involving a solid electrolyte shows promise of oxygen chemical potential measurements in gases and liquid metals well below the 1 ppm range. Weight losses after de scaling of molybdenum and four TZ M molybdenum alloy samples exposed to 1000 C (1832 F) air ranged from1 to 5 Satisfactory agreement between weight losses and concentration of reaction products has been obtained in studies of the reaction of graphite with large graphite bars. The reaction of carbon dioxide and hydrogen is not catalyzed by purified nuclear graphite ; however, a catalytic effect was observed with graphite containing impurities a The coefficient of thermal expansion transverse to the extrusion In the parallel direction no significant change An accelerated expansion (up to 37’0) appears to occur in boronated graphite at a thermal neutron exposure of approximately1021 nvt.

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The third irradiation test (2C-3) on Fermi boronated graphite s has been charged and is operating satisfactorily. Weight loss data(before cleaning) for the aluminum - clad fuel elements a maximum corrosion rate of 3.3mils / month, as compared to 14 mils / month previously measured under similar conditions but at neutral pH. Full size thorium - uranium fuel elements being irradiated in the ETR have now reached 9000 Mwd/ton exposure with only theoretical minimum An analysis of plastic flow in irradiated iron to determine the rate controlling process has shown that at temperatures of 200 K (-100 F) and below, the damage produced by neutron bombardment plays no role. Sections from a bent, irradiated single crystal of molybdenum have been cut parallel to the (111) planes, thinned, and examined in the electron microscope.A one -to-one correspondence between slip lines observed on the surface and the dislocation channels seen by transmission electron microscopy has been established. A detailed analysis of the X - ray line broadening resulting from irrahigh density of small defect clusters. granular cracking during handling suggests that the normal deformation processes have been altered. The susceptibility of the foil to inter - The activation energy for creep of beta - phase plutonium formed from gamma is 34-38 kcal / g - atom and is significantly higher than the 28 kcal/gatom for beta phase plutonium formed from alpha. with the beta - t o - alpha transformation of plutonium subjected to compressive stresses has yielded indirect information on the mechanism of this trans - for mati on. The strain associated

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Reactor physics analyses in support of the Phase 111 (power only) operation of theN - Reactor were completed. obtained as a function of fuel exposure for two proposed fuel types. Minimum fuel costs were Foil irradiation data obtained during both cold and hot startup tests a t N-Reactor have been documented. tion of temperature coefficients and product formation. These data will be useful in pre dic - Critical mass measurements were made with plutonium nitrate so lu - t ions in a 15. 2-in. -diam water - reflected sphere. For an acid molarity of A series of exponential and neutron multiplication measurements were begun with 1. 25 wt% U235 enriched tubular fuel elements(2.4 in. OD, 1.8 in. ID) in light water. lattice spacing of 2.8in,(H20 / U volume ratio of 2. 5 ) the material buckling critical it y with as few as 88 fuel elements (- 2870 lb uranium). The results provide needed data for nuclear Monte Carlo calculations were used with apparent success in the analysis of abare plutonium solution critical assembly (15. 2 in. sphere). Three Class I HL-designed shipping containers have been received for testing purposes. in their construction prevents neutron interaction with other units and Class I shipping containers are unique: the material isolates " the fissile material within each contain e r1 1 The modified sub critical monitor, including the prototype hybrid pre amplifier used with the fission counter,performed successfully at N - Reactor during a number of startup s.

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All laboratory and calibration tests were completed on aPu239 liquid sample counting system which measures the 1 7 kev X - rays from sample vials, and the instrument was delivered to the 234-5 Building for field tests and routine use. Analog simulation studies of N-Reactor primary pump coastdown rates indicate that the primary control loop system gain changes as a function of primary system flow rate. believed t o be the cause. Variations of the governor position er are Reliability calculations were made for the Ball 3X systems for the TheK - Reactor system was chosen as a standard again s ts mall reactors. which to compare proposed new systems.A calculation made for one proposed system indicated no significant increase in reliability over the existing system. Fluorescent pen et rant inspection of over13,000 end caps for N - Reactor Fuels detected three with cracks completely through the wall of the cap. Eight hundred N - Reactor fuel end caps have been successfully tested A prototype ultrasonic bond test for lithium -aluminum target elements has been incorporated into a N - Reactor fuel test station. tests are being compared with destructive test data. Results of first the 333 Building and is being evaluated as a n advanced inspection method f o r detecting uranium contamination in the end cap b raze areas. Modifications were made to the slow - neutron time - o f -flight spectrometer as indicated by the initial test operation last month. monochromator was aligned and mounted. significant improvement in the time and energy resolution of the spectrometer. A new copper crystal This crystal shows promise of