Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report October, 1959

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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 frotn’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 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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Route To: P. R. No. Location Route Date This document consists Signature and Date HANFORD LABORATORIES OPERATION MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPORT HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERP TION This report was prepared only for use within General Electric Company in the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission report are those of the author only. Any views o r opinions expressed in the

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Atomic Energy Commission, Hanford Operations E. J. Bloch, 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 Protect ion Op erat ion. Laboratory Auxiliaries Operation . Professional Placement and Relations Practices. . vi through xiv

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Manager, Physics and Instrument Research and Manager, Reactor and Fuels Research and Manager, Professional Placement and Relations

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Costs for October were $1, 971, 000, a decrease of $38, 000 from September Fiscal year - t o - date costs are 34% of the amounts currently authorized ? o Plutonium Recycle Program costs are $2. 026. 000 (40% of annual aur hor - ized funds) for the first four months of the fiscal year indications based on reviews held with AEC-Washington Division of R e - actor Development people.. that an upward adjusxment of some program funds maybe made. If not- a sharp curtailment of expenditures with the attendant slow down of programs for the balance of the fiscal year will be required. There are some Research and Development costs on the New Production Reactor for the Irradiation Processing Department were reduced in October from the September level, however, a further reduction is reqlJired due to fund 1. Reactor and Fuels The over - all PR TR contract is 49. 470 complete vers ma scheduled 5670 lation is est,imated a t 9670 complete HW-61236, the rough d r a f t of the PRTR Final Sd.fr.guards Repor.. was reviewed by the PRTR Sub-council of the General Electric Re ac + o r Safeguards Council and the PRTR Startup Council, and dizci:s>t>d-.vith personnel of the AEC Hazards Evaluation Branch. A revised rc-port incorporating the comments of these groups, will be plJbiished in No\. Funds have been authorized for scoping and preliminary design of +he Vibrator y compaction is being currently employed to make Zircaloy ~ clad, rod - cluster U02 fuel elements for irradiation in the ETR and Evaluation of the first. 500 pounds of Spencer Chemical Company a - r - fused UO2 reveals that i t exceeds our rigorous specifications for purity and density.

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Preliminary data indicate that internal surface cladding defects of the with an immersion type ultrasonic tester. of swaged rods is under way. Routine ultrasonic testing In high temperature,ex - reactor microscopy studies it was found that the addition of small amounts of additives such as Nb2O5 orTi02 to UO2 markedly changes the temperature at which crystals form and the shape of the cry st a is.These resul',s may be pertinent in the design of a fuel element for high temperature operation in which minimization of the relocation of the U02is desired. The thermal expansion coefficient for Pu02was determinpd a s 11. 53x 10-6/oC. for the temperature interval 237 to 928 C. This is appreciably lower than the preliminary value of 15. 2 Y lO-G/oC reported last month. For comparison the expansion of UO2 lxras A three-foot long, 19-rod A1-Pu cluster has been operated ar. maximum PRTR conditions f o r five days in the ETR. type which can be reactor teszed prior TO PRTR start np becal;se of size limitations of all existing tes ? loops operating a t the ne cec s ary temperatures and pressures. This is the largest protosul es are under irradiation in the MTR. capsules are undergoing post - irradiation examination. Of the Z irc alo y cladding tubes received for iise :n fabricating Z r - Clad A 1 - p ~ .rods, 6070 are being rejected because of faults revealed by the various inspections. the maximum allowable transfer time between the etching ba+.h and T.he aluminum nitrate "stop" bath has been shown to be 30 seconds. Likeb e maintained below 30 grams per k ? er. The non-destructive testing of the Zircaloy-2 PRTR process x be s is are considered structurally sound. Eighty-two of the 9 7 tubes have passed these tests and

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In e x - reactor autoclave tests at. 300 C . no abnormal l-mh-idin,: was observed ir, sections of Zircaloy-2 pr vse s s tubivg .vhit:h had suffered deformation caused by deliberate rliptirrmg of Zircaloy-clad ro-ex truded uranium fuel samples located inside the process tubing. A section of irradiated Zircaloy-2 process tubing recently removed from service in KER Loop 2 does not indicate ab norma i hydriding out does show localized areas of small equiaxed re crystallized grains. Both effective decontamination and adequately low corrosion of car - bon steel surfaces in the NPR may be possible i f galvanic corrosion of the carbon s t e e l can be eliminated. Variables focEd to affect” the galvanic corrosion rate are : the relative areas of carbon and stain - less steel surfaces, solution velocity, and temperatu.re. Bislilfate decontaminating solutions show promise for both %eNPR and the existing Hanford reactors. A small concentration of chlorine significantly reduces The air oxidation of graphite. A t 550 C, 0 . 570 C12 decreased the oxidation The e x - reactor initial elongation of a Zircaloy-2 creep specimen test.ed at 22, 000 psi and 290 Cwas2.8percent. reactor demonstrated little initial elongation and no noticeable creep after having been exposed to 2xnvt, reactor specimen w:ll be raised in increments of 25C Itnti: rreer It h a s been found that the mechanical properties of se. era: stri:r+’?rd’ metals are affected by the rate of exposure to reactor ir raidi at ~ o nas well a s the total exposure. Lowering the t pm per a ture nf irrarl!a+ion reduces the rate effect. Post - irradiation testing of thorium metal specimens shows +hat they em brittle severely, to approximately the same degree after exposure to 1. 0 a / o burnup as cranium mer.al after 0. 1 a / o birn7ip. Post - irradiation tests on irradiated uranium metal show +hat the ther - mal conductivity decreases 18-3070 on burnouts of 0. 02 f.0 0. 03 a/o. and is not recoverable at elevated temperatures. For uranium metal specimens irradiated to 0. 29 a / o burnup pears that very little swelling occurs at irradiation temperatures

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A detailed metallurgical examination of various pressure bonded, Zir - of compound formarlon along -b.e bonding i n + er face The resulting product appeared satisfactory for si;bseaut>nT projection welding of end rings, lengths of tubular elements Tooling wil: soon be available to banrile !on2 After t h r e e weeks of 1rrad:ation. one inner tube of a KER-s.:ze tubel tube fuel a s s e m b l y failed. Operation was .n pH 4 5 water a- 250 and resulting from excessive surface temperature Caused by a depo5,:ted crud layer approximately 0 @lo’’thick. The jacket surfac t’ was also contaminated with copper from the extrusion cladding. Similar sur ~ face pitting was observed on BMI examination of rod /tube elemen+s which had been exposed to 2000 MWD/T in a KER loop a l s o in !9w ture indications in the loop inrere detected. ing in a Jacket split: abour one inch long. film formation. and +,heblack oxide appeared to b e :n’ac+ The exposure was 2 5 0 0 There was n o indication of Steady state boiling curves were obtained experimrnra1:y for KRea, I & E fuel geometry at tube powers of 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 KW 2. Chemical Research and Development A simple method was discovered which causes str on fiu m t.0 prer :pLra+e covered from Pure x waste. fission product recovery. Selective recovery of cerium by the peroxide-ace*,a+e proc e85 was r ~ n - firmed by Rrex Plant. t,est,s. Laborat,ory research on this method was Smooth, trouble free operation was experienced on starting up the pilo*.- scale fluid-bed waste calcine r prototype. PI eceding exploratory studies a t ANL on simulated Purex waste feeds in their equipment were conchided and the results are being incorporated into the HLO program now underway

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The Radian: Heat Spray Ca:c:ner ISa rompet:tivp pro res s and laboratory tests contir,iJe to b e encc .rag:rlg untii the advantage of. one ovpr the wher :5 eviden*. culating vertical barrel concepts. State University exper ? s Indicate that =e:smic methods arc. of discerning most geologic features of +he area Physics and Instrument Rtdsearch and DtAvelopmenr--- In dissolving fuels of 370 enrichment likely occlir f o r the complete-iy dissolved condi?io? and wi:l be less This somewhat unexpected development will not material lv affect d:s solver batch limits for 3% feel b11+w ill Lmprove est ; matec for handiing fuels of higher enrichment s. the smallest rr it ; cal mass will according +o exponential experiments now in Dropress During the month niin lear safety advice was fcrnlshed to P11:vn.gm Metallurgy Operation Radiometa:!urgy Operation and Chrmit al Technical planning for + he first series of exFerimPnTs in * h e Cr;+ica! Mass Laboratory continued. The results * o be expel-tt-d arc, being calculated by the IBM-709. Some of the c a s e s ca:c)vlaled correspond a check on *he calculatior, method. In a study of the chara cr eris tics of the NPR p r : marv loop satisfactory methods were developed for simu latirig the performance of the heat, exchanger on the analog % ompu?.;r. ent on several parameters in addition to the +:me variab:t-. Study of the complete system awaits arrival and ins+a!!atLon of ? h ~new EASE

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Among people examined to date a+.the Shielded Personnel Monitorin 3 Station. a high percentage (957'0) contained detectable amounts of Zn ~ averaging l e s s than 1 0 - 5 of the permissible body burden. While fallout is indicated a s the source of much of this isotope similar results have not been reported from other sites equipped with similar mon - Orderly ' progress was made on the many projects in the in5tr:;ment field, notable among them being investigation of a meT.hod for c o l x t - ing neutrons in the presence of a high gamma background- personnel dosimeter s .which will alarm when a preset exposure :s reached and an alpha a i r moni+,orof improved sensitivi'y. Radioiodine levels in thyroids of Jackrabbits were five + ime s greater than those of one year ago. Contamination of aqcat1.c iife remained DTPA administered TO rats which had rPre:verl o?herwise lethal i n - jections of plutonium was able to prex'r.nt the lethal pffect. Cysteine w a s found to protect against the effects of X-:rradiiation on the glucose absorbing abi1iT.y of the intestme. Analysis of waste stream materials from Three oct of five iiranium ore mills from which samples have been obtained indicated ion:um (Th-230) content in total thorium to be from two to four per cent For efficient preparation and recovery of special heat produc:ng isotopes (U-232 and Th-228) it would be desirable TO use 7hor;um feed containing about 10 per cent ionium. The fact that mzli waste streams without any process development or changes, provide ma+er:al of iip to four p e r cent ionium is quite en(-ouraging. The RBU computer code w a s gis-rn an extended tria! r u n this month No coding errors have as ye? turned up as a result of this run the code may be considered complete except for auxiliary service routines being supplied by ourselves. report on this project is now aboilt ready for distribution and evaluation of the code will be continued & ring the next fev months An exchange seminar program with the University of Washingt.on has been esta dished. On alternate months, Hanford a A the University

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will send speakers +o the o ? her locatior A t the first seminar ' i n TECHNICAL AND OTHER SERVICES Work was complet,ed on * h e comparison of four models Tvith respecr *CI their ability to predict i n - reactor corrosion. The central mu1tivaria:e analysis subroutine of t k ~G CLI omputer pro - various alrernatives were successfqJ lly completed. topic analysis by multi-channel gamma spec + ro meters has been initiated. Work on 14 operations analvsis programs continued h r ! n g * h e month. In addition. s+,atistical and mathematical assistance on 16 problems va a given within HLO and to othxr departments and oprrarion.: Two new plutonium deposition cases were confirmed. in both cases was less than 1% of the maximum permi < sibiq bods b1Irde.n HAP0 is 237 and 170 are c cr rent ly employed. funds of $7. 797,600. The +9?al estimated cost of rhese pro jer s 1s projects were authorized and two were completed di;rmg the mo-,*.h Three new projects are awaiting AEC approval and three q6 - w pro j rct s were submitted to AEC during the month. j ect s are in preparation Total productive t i m e for Technical Shops for +he month w a s 18 571 holJr-5 This includes 1 7 131 hours performed it? fhc. Technical Shops, 808 a>signed to Minor Construction, 218 ' 0 o t h e r project shops required in the current month, with the remainder d:stributed over a three - of the total available hours. The total shop backlog is 2 6 . 456 hours of whi.:h 507' is Overtime worked dliring the m9n1h was 3. 5% (781 ho1:rs)

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Radiographic Testing Operation made a total of 5 872 t e s t s , of which 703 ple ment ary tests in connection with radiographlc tests. and 2 058 (79. 670) were used …