Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report January 1957 (Deleted)

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HANFORD LABORATORLES OPERATION 64 925 MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPORT HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION Work performed under Contract No. W-31-109-Eng-52 between the Atomic Energy Commission and General Electric Company THIS DOCUMENT H A S BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED O N THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS General Summary .......................v through vii Reactor and Fuels Research and Development Physics and Instrument Research and Development Financial Operation .................... 1-1 through 1-3

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Manager, Physics and Instrument Research and Manager, Reactor and Fuels Research and

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The loEg-delsyed asalog computer arrived, and the familiarization program Ra.dic,logical physics concelztrEb+,edon development of techniques f o r detection of fite,rc%liy deposited plutonium i n the now-authorized shielded monitoring fa c ili ty. Chemical Research. a d llevelopment There is sub z ta ~ tisl .progress i n work pointing toward reduction of cycles i n (in R hes.? emcsbmger bunble) now seems t o be assured. *I.L%FsSearinqe iii lieu ~f graphite may greatly extend life in process pumps. MBSF sFcFlt6rometry%2 cletemhe @35 i n an isotopic mixture is slow and expensive. %.ere tae highest aecwacy is not needed, a way t o do this by gamma-ray counting has been deveiofed. This will be 05 great benefit i f Hanford reactors are t o An impm ~ e dmethod of predicting U03 convertibility t o Up4 is now i n place. be applied t o predicting the behavior of U02 in fuel A uLte uneqected developmat arose in tests of reactor effluent on rats. has been the key iacrtape in all river problems. ZnR 5 accumulated i n bone t o give camparable hazard t o P32. Heretofore, P.3 MEwork i s baing d ~ ~ eby long-term feeding of concentrated reactor effluent when we have the shielded personnel monitoring facility. Actual measurement i n Tri-City residents may be attempted Technical and Other Services ~3pema%ioneResearch and Synthesis has accepted an important sensitive assigvaent fhat xii.l be admZnlstmzlveJy known as Operation Pool. xmk, key phase? =\f assistance from product departments will be needed. Tecbnical and fina mfa1means for this are being put in place currently. For some parts of this Some important developments from studies of simple economic models promoting optimization cfl W O eifmts are bebg presented t o other departments for discussion Emissfoc of 1131 f r o m process stack6 was well controlled, except in one week which aecour;e,ed for 18 curies. a factor of twg of the permissible limit. This winter has provided the best evidence t o date of the realisC,ic nature of limits applied t o stack emission. Previously, it wad suspected that the limits were possibly over-conserrstire. Radioiodine deposition in the environs is within

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%e addit.LanaL area was can-rerted t o the new plastic film badge, which has been The IWAonal Cod tte e en Radfstion Protection and Measurement has prepared a pe1imina-z-y statement. 31; mrucimum permissible radiation exposures t o man, which is t o be released on February 15, 1957. The statement will be assumed t o be responsive to the general, disturbance created by the NAS report, especially i n the area. of genetics, although the revlsions were previously being conaidered bQth by the ICRP and the NCRPM. 2hange in the I W O radiation protection approach. Radiation Protection Operation vill aasiss other orgmizatiors i n interpretation of this new statement after With minor exceptions, it will call for no The fcrce increased by or,e t;o 1175. Thirty-five members o,D the Laboratories are participating in PBM courses. %e exempt salary review was completed on schedule. "me secrets-ry in the Laboratories achieved a seven-year attendance recognition award. 'PGa-33 W&E one new grievance; it was answered satisfactorily at Step I. Medic&Lt=*sa.tmectinjuries showed the favorable frequency of 1 . 5 3 per 10,000 hours, aad them were n3 disabling injuries ; there were two minor fires. %e. nimber of security vlolation incidents continued t o be too high. An audit of property accountability, while showing g enemy favorable results, l e 3 ta twc changes with respect t o uninstalled catalogued equipment. physical imentory of" this categcry will begin i n March, and a new control system will be used in the +,echnieal shops.

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fissionsble and non-fissionable materials is continuing in order t o substantiate present hypotheses and theories of radiation damage. characterized metallographic specimen of uranium irradiated t o an approximate burnup of 0.03 per cent has been opened and replicas of the specimen surface have been obirradiation has not been completed, the following conclusions can be derived: (1) i n accord with laboratory studies, the irradiated uranium specimen shows little, if any, evidence of attack by the NaKin which it was immersed; (2) very little evidence of microstructure changes i n the precharacterized surface is discernible by optical examinations. which have occurred, the specimen was etched by ionic bombardment and additional replicas were obtained f o r further c-arisons. replicas by both optical and electron microscopy are in progress. The study of reactor indnced changes in tfie microstracttam of Although a detailed comparison of the surface topography before and after Since it is possible that the surface may not show changes Preparation and analysis of these Mechanical and Physical Properties of Irradiated Materials. examination was continued of Zircaloy-2 tensile specimens exposed two operating tested at roam temperature after post-irradiation vacuum anneals of 10 and 100 hours a t 250, 300, and 350 C . Values obtained f o r yield strength after annealing indicated no recovery of radiation Wage in 100 hours a t 250 C , but approximately three per cent recovery i n 10 hours, and 14 per cent in 100 hours a t 300 C, and 13 per cent i n 10 hours, and 35 percent i n 100 hours a t 350 C . Additional anneals a t 400 Care being performed. The estimated neutron exposure of the material was 1.4 x Initially annealed samples were Four t e n s i l e specimens of depleted (0.028 per cent U-235) uranium canned in NaKfilled Zircaloy-2 capsules were irradiated in the MCR for two operating cycles. Two of the capsules weree surface flux of 2.35 t o 3.35 x 1014 nv to a total exposure of approximately 3 x lom nvt, These exposures are 0.00052 and 0.0048 per cent total atom burnup or equivalent natural uranium exposures of 1.3x 1018 and 1.2x 1019 nvt. exeminations i n the Radiometallurgy Laboratory, the two samples receiving t h e highest exposure were badly warped after irradiation. and were brittle but no strength values could be obtained. samples were tested a t roam temperature. Average values were: 0.2 per cent yield strength 82,000 psi, ultimate strength 110,800 p s i , elongation 2.4 per cent in 1inch gage and modulus 30.8 x 106 psi. has been noted for natural uranium a t higher burnups, although a decrease i n ultimate strength was not observed. irradiation at the lower flux for one cycle. osed i n an estimated surface flux of 2 x 1013 nv toa total exposure of 0.32 x 107i0 nvt. The other two were exposed i n an estimated They were broken i n tension The two lower exposure The embrittlement is almost as severe as Additional samples were sent t o the MTR for

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A natural uranium tensile specimen exposed a t HAP0 t o 0.075 per cent total atom burnup was given a post-irradiation vacuum anneal a t 700 C for ten hours. The ten sil r properties determined from a room temperature test confirmed previous test results after beta phase annealing; there is no increase in elongation as a result of such a ~ ealing. . Hew Fuel Development. During the past month three 7-rod cluster fuel elements have been fabricated--one made from aluminum duumy rods and two from 0.500-inch uranium rods jacketed in +ail 304 stainless steel. These fuel elements w i l l be charged into the 3865-KE through-hole facility within the next three weeks. They will be exposed t o 600 MUD/T t o determine their in-reactor performance and any changes in their physical characteristics a t power levels of 40-50 kw/ft. A new rear face nozzle designed to facilitate the discharge of a rUpture from the KW throw - hole facility waa installed and a holder cnntaining three cored insulated uranium fuel elements and a dummy was charged during the fourth week of January. These fuel elements are scheduled f o r irradiation t o 600 MWD/T a t 43 kw/ft. The uranium surface temperature is calculated t o be 282 C and the maxitnuni temperature simulated rupture testing i n a flow tube. Additional cored insulated uranium fuel elements are being fabricated f o r Two charges of experimental cluster fuel elements were completed last quarter. They were originally designed for operation in a ribbed tube a t the KER facility, but have now been modified tofit the rib less Zircaloy-2 KER tubes. dngsten arc spot welding. spring deflection, so t h a t permanent deformation of the spring does not occur during charging. This spring mounted fuel element has the advantage of flexi bil it y and O.l’jO-inch clearance between rods and tube wall. witha rigid internal ring which, in addition t o its structural function, is intended t o prevent damage during handling, charging, and discharging. Two springmounted four-rod fuel elements are being checked for nozzle clearance and chargeThe spring material is cold rolled 304 ELC stainless %I.leaf spring wae mounted on each end-cap of the four-rod fuel element by The annealed area adjacent t o the weld la not significantly loaded during The rods are spaced A study of the fuel and cladding material requirements for organic cooled reactor application has been made and a report has been issued (On Fuel Elements for In connection w i t h the pre-charging inspection of vacuum-canned and hot-pressed fuel elements, it was necessary t o measure the end-cap and can base thickness on each individual element i n order t o permit machining these components t o specifications. Inasmuch as the Fuels Preparation Department has abandoned the use of the x-ray fluoroscope in favor of direct indexing i n the automatic facing lathes, it was necessary t o procure (from Excess) and install an x-ray machine. matically actuated slug-feeding carriage was developed, and this, together with a micrometer stop-adjustment, permits speedy, accurate measurement of t h e components, with much less effort on the part of the operator than was formerly required on a Continued development of the internal Frost Test for I & E fuel ments has l e d t o further improvement of the system. It has been found possible,

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by repeated passage of the same slug through this t e s t a t successively increasing power input, t o distinguish between areas of subnormal heat-transfer and areas where the jacket is excessively thin, both of which conditions result in characteris tic ally shaped melted areas on the acenaphthene-coated test strip. Pre-irradiation evaluation of fuel elements prepared by the hot-press process for an in-reactor comparison i s essentially complete. yet produced by this process. integrity of the heat transfer medium and completeness of bond, thickness of the nickel, intermetallic layers, uniformity of can wall, soundness of the weld, and uniformity of the aluminum jacket grain size. examined metallographically t o assure that non-destructive tests are valid. an anodizing treatment, the test charges w i l l be set up t o await loading into a The test pieces are the best They have been subjected to tests that show the Others have been sectioned and The testing of approximately 300 elements produced by vacuum canning i s now essenti ally complete. It i s planned to irradiate sixty-four of these elements and compare their performance with a similar number of hot-dip canned I & E elements. Tests were performed on the cold closure canning technique to learn the effects of various ram speeds and loadings on the resulting closure. indicate that loadings can be reduced by increasing the ram o r closure speed. Results from the tests fuel elements, a series of fuel element autoclave rupture tests was conducted t o determine the extent of damage t o the process tube when a self-supporting fuel element ruptures. The results point t o the requirement for supports that will collapse under the forces caused by a f u e l element rupture. a collapsible support developed t o date isa bridge type support with three piers i n the span. This support has sufficient strength t o withstand normal charging forces, but will collapse under the excessive forces caused by afuel element rupture. The fuel element can move a t o t a l of 0.115 of an inch before excessive pressure is exerted on the process tube. In continuation of the development of self-supporting The best design f o r As part of the f'uels development program, 20 eight-inch I Q E wafer fuel elements were dip-canned and destructively examined. The examination revealed that the fuel elements contained too much Lead (carried over from duplex bath) located primarily between wafers. The lead is responsible for difficulty in welding the t o the agitator will be tried to minimize lead carry-over. With the elimination of the lead problem, the process is considered ready f o r production of a reactor A change i n the agitator cycle plus the addition of a pneumatic vibrator I n support of the KER loop utilization and development program, 10 tested eightinch KER-size I & E wafer fuel elements were delivered t o FPD engineering for Investigations of the variables involved in degassing uranium washers i n the vacuum armealing furnace were conducted. resulted in I & E elements with large voids i n the bonding layer along the internal tube. A s would be expected, it was observed that the hydrogen content after degassing depends upon the initial content, the degassing temperature, and the deThe canning of non-degassed washers has

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Fuel Evaluation. The irradiation of a coaxial fuel element specimen in the HAP0 fuel element testing facility in the PPfR vas begun January 11. iation was deslLplad as a heat transfer experiment. The specimen parameters were selected so that the central tube would operate in the gaanma phase only and the outer tube in only the alpha phase, based on out-of-reactor measurements of uranium-uraniua interface t h e m conductances with no load. Post-irradiation exanination should provide an estimate of the maxiplum temperature that was reached The irradiation of an eight-inch I & E wafer fuel element in the HAP0 fuel element testing facility in the I4TR was completed January 7. operated ata power level of 70-75 k w / ft for five reactor cycles (fifteen weeks) specimen will be returned t o Hanford i n February for examination i n the RadioThe fuel element specimen The exposure a t discharge was estimated a t 800 MWD/T. The Static Corrosion Tests in Organic Coolants. between uranium and mnoisopropyl biphenyl …