Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report May, 1959

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

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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: A. Makes any warranty or representation, express 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 B. 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 to the extent that such employee or contractor prepares, handles or distributes, or provides access to, any information pursuant to his employment or contract with the Commission.

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IP. R. No. Location Route Date Sipnature a n d Date HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION RIC HLAND, WASHINGTON This report was prepared only for use within General Electric Company i n the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission the report are those of the authors only. Any views o r opinions expressed in THIS DOCUMENT IS PUBLICLY

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Atomic Energy Commission, Hanford Operations Office, 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 ............V General Summary..... ~ ...,........... vi through xiii Reactor and Fuels Research and Development Physics and Instrument Research and Development Chemical Research and Development Operation ....C - 1 through C-24 Operations Research and Synthesis Operation .....E - 1 through E-7 Professional Placement and Relations Practices..... 1-1 through 1-6 Financial Operation ................... J- 1 through 5-4

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Manager, Operations Research and Synthesis ....C. A. Bennett Manager, Physics and Instrument Research and Manager, Reactor and Fuels Research and Manager, Professional Placement and Relations Manager, Financial.................... W. Sale

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BUDGETS AXD COSTS Costs for May were $1, 843, 000, an increase of $11, 000 from the month of April. Fiscal year - t o - date costs are $17, 845, 000 o r 8570 of the operating increased $449, 000 during May due to; Hanford Laboratories operating budget forFY 1959 Increase in Plutonium Recycle Program resulting from a transfer of $200, 000 from equipment and receipt of an additional $200, 000 from AEC Increase in Swelling Studies provided by a transfer of $25, 000 from IP D ' s MW i time Gas Loop Decrease in CPD sponsored Separations Development Increase in two U. S. Air Force sponsored programs Plutonium Inhalation Studies Atmospheric Diffusion Studies RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 1. Reactor and Fuels PRTR construction phase completions versus schedules are: Phase I, 98. 570 versus 99.470; Phase 11, 9970 versus 10070;P hase II-A, 8470 PR TR loss -of-coolant incidents analyses by Battelle are essentially accepted at the vendor ' s plant, and approximately 14 more potentially good tubes are nearing completion. already at Hanford. The first fifty of these tubes are The first BMI temperature - cycling creep test (out-of-reactor) on 15 percent cold worked Zircaloy-2 is reassuring in that the overall creep was not significantly increased by re occurrence of primary creep with each temperature cycle. Laboratory tests show the hydriding of Zircaloy-2 by molecular hydrogen is dependent on both the temperature and the amount of water vapor

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or oxygen in the hydrogen. is sufficient to completely At 409 C,0.1mm of Hg water vapor pressure inhibit the liydriding reaction i;i short - term Thermal expansion coefficients of reactor graphite s may assist in select - ing graphite types which are more dixxensionally stable ;yheil irradiated a t high temperature (500 C and above). graphite s are undergoing irradiation testing. At least three promising NPR Three 7-rod cluster fuel elements were discharged from the ETR 3x3 loop after operating in 280 C coolant to an exposure of 900 ILIWD/T. Six prototype NPR 7-rod cluster elements were built during th,e month in three lengths: one, two, and three feet. Assembly was zccoinplished within the dimensional tolerance of 0. 010-inch on the outside diameter 2nd within the rod to rod spacing tolerance of 0. 003-inch, employing prototypical end spiders and intermediate spacing devices. Eight tube-tube Z irc alo y coextrusion clad elements were constructed of NMI stock for irradiation in the KER loops. was charged into KER-1 in May. The element containing U-2% Z irc alo y fuel wi!l be discharged for examination after 250 MWD/T exposure. An additional tube-tube element has been shipped to the E TR for irradiation in the 6x9 facility at about 360 k w / f t . the calculated temperature is 700 C. The first tube-tube element Goal exposure is 2000 MWD/T, and Equipment for simultaneously hot bonding both ends of fuel r o d s 1 2 inches long preparatory to end closure has been developed. in producing 7-rod cluster elements for KER testing. It will be employed Preparation of approximately 1200 pounds of arc fused UOg was completed by the Norton Company as part of the PRP fuel development program. Radiation damage effects in U02are being studied by metallographic examination of polished and etched surfaces and by fractography. Small voids which have been detected at grain boundaries inU02irradiated to 0. 015 a / o burnup are presumed to arise from migration of gases trapped during the fabrication processes, generation and migration of fission gases, or a combination of both mechanisms. irradiated to 0. 022a / o burnup is expected to reveal trends in the radi a - tion behavior of U 0 2 . Examination of material Post - irradiation examination of Pu-enriched, U02 fuel clusters has revealed relatively little of the cracking and fragmentation observed in

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A mixture of plutonium carbides has been made by heating plutonium metal and carbon in vacuo a t 1050 C. P a C arid pU2C3 have been identified. Experimental roll compacting of metal clad ceramic materials has been Forty percent reduction has resulted in 7570 of theoretical Defected elements of Zircaloy-clad 2s aluminum showed only slight swell - 2.Chemical Research and Development Laboratory results continued to provide support for Purex plant extraction of neptunium by simpler and less expensive process methods. In addition, the u s e of dibutyl butyl phosphonate (DBBP) looks encouraging as a specific extract ant for recovery of neptunium from Pure x aqGeous waste (1WW). Continuing work on the recovery of specific fission products included study of optimum cerium and promethium sulfate precipitation froma synthetic Purex waste source (1WW). Preliminary experiments for separation of rare earths by ion exchange techniques were initiated. In addition to precipitation processes, tall oil (a high molecular weight fatty acid) and di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid show promise of being useful for the extraction of cerium and strontium from neutralized Pure x 1WW waste. Very effective separation of deuterium from hydrogen-deuterium mixtures was demonstrated by a hydrogen displacement technique in a column of "Raney" palladium dispersed on asbestos. calculated with data from the experiment. Excessive fines were produced when simulated U02reactor fuel rods were cut up in a hydraulic shear underwater with considerable suspension of the fines occurring throughout the water system. On the other hand, simulated NaK bonded fuel was cut (by sawing) under inert gas blanketed water with A separation factor of 45 was NaK reaction with the water is rapid, but not Pilot Plant studies of the Niflex (HN03 - HF) dissolution process in the Hastelloy F dissolve r were completed and the unit is being converted to study Sulfex (H2S04)dissolution on a large scale.Corrosion of Hastelloy F equipment by HNO3 - HF mixtures remains a problem which may negate the use of this reagent except for special purposes. A heat transfer surface The use of high concentrations of ferric ion in nitric acid dissolve r solutions to vield stable feed solutions of U-Mo reactor fuels continues tou look good. Scouting studies of the behavior of these feeds in the R&xbA%

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process were generally favorable. Cycling U 0 2 into solution in fused NaC1. KC1 by phosgene o r chlorine oxidation with subsequent reduction to aU02precipitate continues to be an attractive pyro chemical method for ceramic fuels processing. The study was extended during the month to include the behavior of irradiated U02 specimens, in particular, the route of fission products during the Experiments with the radiant heat spray c akin er showed neutralized 1WW Pure x waste to be a problem because sodium nitrate in the waste formed a coating on the radiating walls and required shutdown of the unit. addition of sugar to the waste alleviated the problem by reacting with the nitrate present and producing well behaved product powder which is pre - dominantly sodium carbonate. The first experiment with 4 7 foot long soil columns showed behavior generally predictable from extrapolation of previous results of shorter columns. The radio strontium used eluted in a fashion to show that the adsorption-desorption front in the column becomes better defined with increasing column length. 3.Physics and Instrument Research and Development In the improved production reactor program,a series of exponential pile measurements using solid natural uranium rods2.5 inches in diameter, concentric tube fuel elements. Work is in progress on solid 1. 92-inch rods and In the nuclear safety field, experiments continued to obtain critical masses problems in this field continued at a numerically high level. Measurements were completed on the lattice for the Allis Chalmers - were obtained for the lattice parameters. Meanwhile, theoretical and experimental work was in progress to determine the effectiveness of a proposed control rod in this same lattice. TWOe x peri mental nuclear-incident alarms successfully passed tests at Los Alamos where facilities are available for simulating such incidents. Meanwhile a recently cornpleted study indicated that early warning of a potential criticality incident may be obtainable in some cases. Orderly progress was made on the many projects in the instrument field. Of special interest was the opening of a lead which may substantially improve the sensitivity of film badge readings. of the Vernier Chronotron was successfully tested. Also, an improved model

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The mass spectrometer constructed fora Washington Designated Program was used on a plutonium sample for the first time this month. The results agreed with analyses done a t ORNL on the same sample. In the basic data field, arrangements were completed to extend our inter - national comparison programs on graphite cross sections to include Bean plants grown in nutrient solutions containing' widely differing ratios of strontium and calcium contained essentially the same ratio of these two ions in\ the whole plant as in the nutrient solution. A second ewe fed 1. 5 p c of years (after being born to and weaned from adam on the same radio - iodine regimen) showed a thyroid tumor at autopsy. daily for the past four and one-half A study of power producing radioactive isotopes showed that U-232 and its daughter Th-228 have significant potential. These isotopes could be produced by the irradiation of Th-230 which is available from natural The Monte Carlo and associated portions of the RBU computer code are now in usable condition. A sample problem directly applicable to the Plutonium Recycle Program has been run. React.or effluent water problems were reviewed and recommendations made concerning a new course of action with respect to the direct d is - posal of effluent streams to the river. TECHNICAL AND OTHER SERVICES The development work required to utilize generalized classical linear methods of estimation in connection with the investigation of causal interrelationships techniques to formulate plant models. A complete progress report on the Z Plant Information Study was presented to interested managers and a proposed test program agreed upon. Emphasis will now be placed on the utilization of these Irradiation Processing Department has requested that work on systems reData from the recent PR TR containment vessel test are being evaluated in

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order to determine the precision of leakage rate estimates arid obtain a basis for improved procedures in future tests. Work on 2operations research studies and 8 operations analysis programs continued during the month. TWQ new operations analysis programs were defined, one a n offshoot of the development work connected with the inputoutput simulation study and the other a result of previous statistical work. In addition, statistical and mathematical analysis on 19 problems was given within HLO and to other departments and opera t 'ions. No new cases of plutonium deposition were confirmed during the month. The total number of deposition cases which have occurred at Hanford remained at deposition of plutonium. There are 161 employees current iy employed who have a measurable There were 21 authorized projects at month ' s end with total authorized funds of $8,423, 000. The total estimated cost of these projects is $8, 606, 500. NO projects were completed during the month. Two new projects are awaiting AEC approval. Six project proposals are in preparation and four were completed and are in process of being submitted to AEC. Total productive time for the month in Technical Shops was 17,102 hours. This includes 13, 358 hours performed in the Technical Shops, 852 hours assign - ed to Minor Construction, 122 hours to other project shops, and 2, 770 hours to off - site vendors. required in the current month, with the remainder distributed over a three The total shop work backlog is 22,112 hours of which 50% is During the month Radiographic Testing Operation moved' to laboratory facilities in White Bluffs. PR TR facilities at this location for pickling and autoclaving zirconium process tubes are nearing completion. Productive work during the month was low due to the move. Tests totaled 2,926. The Contract for construction of the Critical Mass Laboratory was awarded to the low bidder, Howard S. Wright Construction Company, at a p r i c e of $442, 025. The fair cost estimate for the work was $408, 000. Construction of t h e 306 Building Addition is proceeding on schedule. Design work is behind schedule due to the addition of design work f o r the Chemical Processing Area. The construction contractors schedule will be extended when the chemical processing area construction work is negotiated, but this is not expected to extend the t o t a l job schedule. I n - reactor equipment for the 6x9 test hole in the ETR at Idaho Falls was operating temperature with fuel elements is expected to be accomplished in A non-fuel bearing experiment is now being operated ; testing a t

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Reconciliation work in connection with the physical inventory of uninstalled cataloged equipment in the custody of Chemical Research and Development is complete. Significant statistics are: counted were 2, 468 items valued a t $1, 751, 803; missing were 10 items valued a t $2, 973. A final draft of the travel manual has been reviewed and should be ready for issuance shortly. …