Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report July, 1962

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

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This 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: Makes any warranty or representation, expressed or implied, with respect to 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, "person 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 controctor 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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HANFORD LABORATORIES OPERATION MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPORT This report was prepared only for use within General Electric Company in the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(45-1)-1350. Any views o r opinions expressed in the report are those of the author only.

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Atomic Energy Commission, Hanford Operations Office F. P. Baranowski, Director, Division of Production Savannah River Operations Office, Aiken, South Carolina

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Force Report and Personnel Status Changes . Reactor and Fuels Research and Development Physics and Instrument Research and Development Chemical Research and Development Operation Operations Research and Synthesis Operation Radiation Protection Operation Finance and Administration Operation Test Reactor and Auxiliaries Operation

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BUDGETS AND COSTS July operating costs totaled $2, 137, 000 or 870 of the $28, 049, 000 tentztive financial plan and the proposed departmental allocation of funds by ',he General Manager - HAPO. The budget is based on d&:k con:&,ined 21the iniziili. AEC Hanford Laboratories' research and developmerd costs €or July, compared with the tentative control budget, a r e as follows: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 1 Reactor and Fuels In an effort to reduce burnout of the graphite, PI:Hanford re2c:ors recently began operation under provisions of a Process Change Authorization. The effective seduction of air in-leakage was demofistrazed by monitoring samples charged into three charnels at C Resctor or! -Tune 3 and removed July 3. Weight-loss rates of all samples were less :kan 2% per 1000 operating days, whereas between March 16 a d June 3 ;he weight-loss rate was as hign as 25%. It was concluded from visual studies performed with an electrically heated test section in a glass tube that little o r no boiling would take p k c e between the process tube ribs and the fuel elements in the Hanford production reactors under normal flow and heat generation razes up to 1 - 1 / 2 times

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tube was positioned 8070 ecce rt ric toward the outer fuel tube w2s fomd to be approximately 50% of :ha1 for [I^:o:-cent:z-i=pl;r-.erne~tof the k e r A PRTR Mark I fuel element was hstd ' led in a transparent process tube and was examired for vibratioas icdut-ed by flow of cooling water past the element. No vibmtions were de%.',ed wizh I stroboscopic light o r with high speed motior, pictrrres at flows ~p to 125 gpm. were induced in the outlet nozzle a small movement of the fuel relative to the process tube was detected i.1 the high speed motion pictures. An investigation of the nuclear s d e t y of the PRTR loaded with mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel wzs completed. It was found :hat the negative fuel temperature coeff icier:?, whlcn inherently operates to limit excursions, is nearly twi:e as large iis the effective v d u e for the present zone enriched core; the effective delayed neutron fraction is substantially reduced and ranges f r o m 0.0046 to 0.0033 for the loadings studied; and temperature and void coefficiects of the moderator appear to be slightly more negative t5sa fcr ;he presezt loading. spa are not significantly benefikd cy vary-xg rhe isotopii, compoeltion A prelimin-ry study w a s complezed of FRTR power level poteztia! could be ix r eased to approximatel: 100 Mw zc 2 cost of $100, 000 o r fications are required to light water L--:~L::OE w - d prim--.y s s stem would be required for design and szfepzrds ard ys is of the cladding thickness have wi?.h\_~ooc!ckdamg sjtrahs up to 3 . 5% o r higher. These data are GOnSi,3T2ct with previoes observations on

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completion of its second cycle of ir xli Zi or - 2, ;!:e ETR M-3 Loop. Pesk specific power is calculr-ted TO be 130 KW-/f;. wkh a corresponding maximum fuel temperature of 410 13. is in progress at Radiometallu~gy. Cross-sections of the tubular componeat do not show visikle inter :,?& t ~ c k l i n ga:d no deficfltrcies have exposure fuel, a r e evidezt ir the fidel zdj&cgr_tto the closure. by twisting them m o r e thzci i80 degzees wif-hwLt fz-c:::;ze at temperaoperating laser beam appears necessae to achieve results comparable to those of high voltage electron beam welding. High energy impaction of a powder mixture Lavir-g the composition uranium powder and hTO2 04. fabricated by grindikg high enl3Ygy impacted -VttTLk powder, were sources for cancer therapy. Uranium mononitride powder was nigzLene-mgy impacted i z ~vacuum, at 1100 C and 500,000 psi, to yield a bulk material k v h g density of

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The University of Washingtor- received z s ~ i s t ~ . ~ c efrodm RLO in the fabrication of test fuel epecimezs for expeziments et the Vniversity, consisting of rolling of sevec butforts of uranium-235 to 0. 050 and 0.G25-kch &eei. the dizping of six sheets to rectangles with a drilled center hole, and the forming of 0. 025-inch d i s c s to fit the center hole of each such sheet. &toy of alzlminum and been performed on five unirmdizked si-;gk-crg.skl molybdenum specito calculate resolved shear sirrases for molybdenum. The results will be utilized to determine deformation modes and Two general swelling caps des tF.2: hve ,-cuAed their goal exposure were discharged this mozLh a d two pew capscles were charged. Two previously i rr adh ted capssules are k(3b-g disassembled in Radiometdlurgy f o r specimen recovery 2nd exami?_~&%on. Flux monitors have been iza%di..-.ted. a d disckarged from the in-reactor calculate the actual flux affectbg the creep of the Zircsloy-2 specimens. An ex is kg csDmputer code is beirlg zdapted to mended for the first step is dewmhm&atioz of s tak less steel, is very effective in removing chromium p k t k . 3 is I'rzlpor"lz7t that chromium plated p a r t s not be used in reactors to be clem-ed by procedures using Hydrogen analyses have beer. rce i ved or- zircoghxn samples exposed product hydrogen pickap in irrsdizted samples wi?s approximately the s a m e as fo? comparable samples exposed ex-reactor. Corrosion weight single tube mockup, cawed no detec;za3e corr os im at poiits or' contact after three months of operiztioz wtii the h e 1 -kt h e same location. E a r l i e r tests had caused 1-5 mils deeps =nzrks k-the tube wall at points of contact with the fuel exposed 2s s h . z t as two weeks. Apparently

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Feilure inithted at a 17-mil deep ire-2i-q co-rosioa. merk b a room temperature burst test of a sectioz of irradiztzd, 45% cold worked, mask which was produced by cortnct betweer th?; tcke wall mda single rod wire wrap. special irradiation cluster f o r PRTR irradiztion. f o r an extended surface fuel eleme??. cooling to room temperaturs in 3 vacuum from CjCO C gave a two-phase mixture of Pu02 aqd what appears to be PuO. Also, PuOl. 62 w a s pared with tbe apparent rnelthg point af 2212C r3 f a r FkOz under the de term he d to be 2 x 10" ohns - zn. FuOI-.6 2 samples were heated

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2. Phvsics and Instruments Andysls of buckling values of the NPR latt:~? bas PCW bzez completed. a mockup of the N-Reactor lzttice and OT?-a condensed vere im of this lattice. The condensed Fittics, 2 s the nazne impEes, removes the voids which are present in the mockup> bit retaks the same a-mouEt of graphite per kt tice cell. is 2. 1 times the buckling v a J e for the mockup l~ttic.-?. in buckling is a measure of the effect of the voids in the mockup lattice. The hiickcbg vahe for the c9,zrlemed lzttice h strum ert ation activities in support of the XPR project included: ionization chambers; reviews of specifixtions for dl the ~ u c l e uinstruspectrometer f o r the rupture monit3,r arLdrecommepdation of modifications; and calculations of shielding f o r the Trzveling Wire Flux Monitor. Eddy current testing of more than 28 miles of small diameter Inconel eddy current indications with burst tests indicate tkzt up to 4% of the tubing may need to be rejected; PrelLmi22q7 Torrelations of the The White Bluffs equipmellt used for NPR proc t as tube teat hg was and for Limited testing of Zircaloy k b e s for the K r?a.c+.ors. This facility will be ased f o r remain_b-g XPR work center of the exponectial pile. A pro gran to mezsure the effwt of rieztron ica & ztioc on K-Reactor cont ~ o lsplines colltinued. y e e r when d1 sets have accurn-cllat.tei-2t5e desired exposures. &-e wet of splines rzachd its goal exposure.

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Tzseful data f o r the studies on reactor automatic soritrol were obtained f m m tests at KW-Reactor, and progress was made in the developmexd of a satisfactory analog model for the control ad transfer function Preparation, operation, and revision of various versions of the reactor kinetics code TRIP have continued in support of hazards studles on the Criticality experiments continued on plutonium nitrate solutions in a 14" spherical vessel. The effect of acid molarity on criticality w a s studied for solutions in the concentration range of 30 to 45 grams of plutonium per liter. increased the critical mass of the 14" sphere by about 157'0. An increase in the acid molarity from 2 to 4 The first load-out of dilute plutonium solutions from the Critical M a s s Laboratory for transfer to a concentrator in 234-5 was accomplished without spread of contamination o r other incident. . The effect of newly installed shielding wdus arouid a storage hood in the 234-5 Building was measured using neutron multiplication techniques. The walls a r e flat tanks containing water. ments show that it will not be necessary to reduce the number of plutonium pieces which may be stored in the hood. The results of the measure.- A training course in nuclear safety w a s begun during the month at the request of CPD personnel. About 1QO CPD Supervisors a r e to attend the course in groups of about 25. Each group wjll receive 10 lectures , on nuclear safety. The a a lysis of the criticality problem asscciated with dissolvir-g plutonium conthues and a theoretical study to compute the hJ.c&Fng of partidly filled, reflected spheres was begup. The analysis method for calculating photon heating from Cs - 137 ir- shipping cont a her s was developed for Chemical Development Operation. An analog st7rdy of rzdioactive waste disposal heat transfer had to be suspended until s xfficient computing equipment is available to obtai? a solution with the necessary detail. Analysis and evaluation of fuel burnup data f r o m PRTR Pu-A1 element 5075 continues. Possible problems associated with P u and Cs-137

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concentration measurements a r e being investigated. Burnup analyses analogous to those performed on Pu-A1 element 5075 have begun on U02 element 1041, which w a s exposed to about 2000 MWD/T,f o r checking Laboratory methods for analyzing U 0 2 and U02-Pu02 elements. Approach to critical measurements were made using Pu-A1 rods in a Light water lattice with a .85"' spacing between rods. the loading was made up of 211 rods containing 5% Pu-240. zone w a s made up of 240 rods containing 6% Pu-240. number of rods for criticality w a s 486. smaller than the number obtained for a uniform mixture of the two types The incer zone of This number is two percent The analyses of the experiments of 5.0 w/o and 1.8 w/o Pu-A1 rods in wster have been completed. Rods in H 2 0 Comparison of Eigenvalue and Perturbation Analysis with Experiment, I' by J. J. Regimbal w a s submitted to the American Nuclear Society for presentation at the Winter Meeting. Excellent agreement w a s obtained in most A paper on this work, entitled, ttPlutonium-Aluminum Alloy The neutron'temperature in a 19-rod fuel cluster w a s determined by activation of lutetium foils in the PRTR. between adjacent fuel rods in the outer ring of rods. The neutron temperature was found to be about 25O C higher than the temperzture of the moderator and coolant water which were near room temperature at the time of the irradiation. The measurement w a s made Analyses of PCTR data on low exposure Pu-A1 fueled graphite lattices continued. New calculations on f o r a 10-1/2" poisoped lzttice gzve 160 = . 9 7 4 a s compared with the experimental value of 1.00. Preparations f o r PRCF startup included work on test procedures., flux traversing rigs; and neutron counter assemblies. Assistance w a s also provided on hazards evaluations f o r two different PRCF loadings. Code development on the two fuel cycle burnup codes, CALX and RBU, library a r e being updated. cross section data for other reactor physics codes to insure uniformity in these data used in analyses. ming Operation in analyzing a fuel element design having spatial The c r o s s sections of selected isotopes in the RBU basic The library is used asa source of basic Assistance is being provided to Program-

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self-shielding as well a s assisting in fuel cycle analysis work through To test a basic concept in reactor theory, a measurement was made on the angular distribution of neutron current flowing into a strongly absorbing rod. Preliminary comparison of Sn transport theory predictions with the measurements has provided a contradictory evaluation of the level of reliability of the Sn analysis method. While good agreement with experiment is obtained on the angular flux distribution in one direction, non-physical flux oscillations a r e obtained in the opposite direction. Although it is felt that this instability may have only localized second-order effects upon the calculation of the important reactor parameters, until it is cleared up, future Sn analysis in curvilinear geometry should be carefully scrutinized. Major portions of …