Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report February, 1960

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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 RICHLAND, WASH INCTON

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This report wos prepared os on occount of Government sponsored work. Neither the United States, nor the Commission, nor any person octing on behalf of the Commission: Makes ony warranty or representotion, expressed or implied, with respect to the occurocy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained in this report, or thot the use of any informotion, apporotus, method, or process disclosed in this report may not infringe privately owned rights; or Assumes any liob3ities with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of any information, apporotus, method, or process disclosed in this report. As'used in the obove, 'person octing on beholf of the Commission' includes any employee or controctor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor, to the extent thot such employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such Contractor prepares. disseminates, or provides occess to, any informotion pursuant to his employment or contract with the Commission, or his employment with

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HANFORD LABORATORIES OPERATIO. MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPOR HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION This report was prepared on.ly for use within General Electric Company in the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission report are those of the author only. An.y views o r opinions expressed in the THXS DOCUMENT IS PUBLICLY

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Atomic Energy Commission, Hanford Operations Offlce, Savannah River Operations Office, Aiken, Soutt Caro1mG.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Force Report and Personnel Status Changes .........V General Summary ................ vi through x v Reactor and Fuels Research and Development Physics and Instrument Research and Development

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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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BUDGETS AND COSTS Costs for February were $1, 896, 000, an increase of $76, 000 from authorized to Hanford Laboratories. at February 29 have the following cost-budget relationship: Fiscal year-to-date costs are 6370 of the amounts current,ly (Dollars in Thousands) Cost Budget 70 Spent Funds authorized to Hanford Laboratories for F Y 1960 were increased during the month by $36O1 000 for Division of Reactor Development and $81, -300 for Division of Research. Costs of HLO research and development for Hanford Product depart men?^ arein line with amounts authorized. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 1. Reactor and Fuels The Phase 111 PRTR contract completion date has been changed from May 20 to June 24, 1960, to compensate for s t r i k e s and o+,herdel-ays. Placement of heavy aggregate concrete in the biological shield has been completed. The PRTR Final Safeguards Analysis was reviewed by the ACRS on January 28. proposed operating procedures were raised by the Committee a: No serious objections to the design or A writ%enreview has not yet been received. A smdy of the compliance of the PRTR design with recently issucd General Electric Reactor Safeguards Council Standards showed :ha* full compliance could be achieved by making two minor changes. About 90per cent of the Critical Test outlines have been reviewed by the PRTR Startup Council. starzed, and 35 per cent of the operating process specifications have been issued in rough draft form. Writing of the Power Tests has

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A Zircaloy process tube, which had not been pickled o r autoclaved, was removed from the Single Tube Prototype Loop after 2329 hours of operation and found to contain wear depressions, 0.001 to 0.002 inch deep, adjacent to the fuel element supports and several randomly spaced blisters. Thermal cycling tests at 1000 psig of Zircaloy-clad A1-Pu rods have shown no dimensional changes after 2 5 cycles and only slight changes on a few specimens after 50 cycles. Earlier testing at 1400 psig resulted i n considerable distortion. more comparable to PRTR conditions. The 19-rod Al'Pu cluster irradiated to 60% burnup in the ETR is spikes except for length. elemenr and the w i r e wraps had loosened: bu+, circumferential bands were still tight. no failure had occurred, and no gross dimensional khanges were evident. of 2000 psi undoubtedly contributed to the observed thermal This element was prototypical of PRTR srar?-up Considerable crud had formed on the Exposure to a loop pressure The reduction of -02 by carbon has been found to proceed a? 1 7 0 0 C with the formation of Pu2C3 rat,her than PuC possibly because of vaporization of P u 0 2 from the stoichiometric mixture. A preliminary value for the melting point of Pu2C3 has been The 48th and last cold swaged, 19-rod cluster UO2 fuel element required for the first loading of the PRTR was completed during the month. Manpower released from the fabrication work w i l l permit acceleration of other fuel development work. The 85 PRTR Zircaloy-2 process tubes have passed all nondestructive tests, mee? all requirements, and a r e ready for reactor ins tallation. Analysis of the data of heat transfer experimems on the thermal clusions that self-induced flow reduction due to s t e a m formation in the tube will not occur. that if one of the t h r e e flow channels of the Mk II-b fuel element The analysis does show, however

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were compleTely plugged" the other two channels would increase in flow nearly equal to The loss in flow of the affiicted channel and a low flow trip would not occur. Ninety-five p e r cent of the dissolved oxygen in fi1:ered ColLrnbia River wafer was removed by employing ac?iva+ed carbon ? o catalyze the reaction between oxygen and aqueous hydrazine. This is of interest for NPR shutdown conditions. Retubing of the Hanford production react,ors wi:h ribbed Zircaloy replacement tubes is being de-emphasized in favor of accelerating the test installation of smooth bore (rib less) Zircaloy tubes ',o operate with self-supported fuei. Three vendors have developed the capability to produce NPR Zircaloy process tubes, as demonstrated by good progress on pilo: orders. The use of Zyglo (fluorescen: dye) and ulm as mic vendors.' representatives during the month. Estimares of the fas*,neutron flux (above 1 Mev) of primary interes: for graphite damage in +,heHanford re a corsa re being significantly improved through a combination of Hanford nickel a-ure and densiry a r e continuing on iron-serpenxne concrete bhielding. Recen: da-a indicate that, high density concrete (265 lb/ft3) of this type retains about 45 per cent, of its original It has been shown that, thermal cycling produces appreciable creep in uranium metal under condi:ions which prodlice no creep in a Wear tests to evaluate the scratching cha racer is tics of NPR fuel element support materials on the process mbe have shown that a low chrome molybdenum alloy steel has remarkably good tube while the soft mayerials such as aluminlim and copper smeared bad ly . Many hard m a + e rials inves5pa:ed scra-ched The €or 100 hours produces as much a s 20 per cent,d e crease in decrease in density. These data Tend to establish tha: : emmra -

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tures between the irradiatim temperature (500 C ) and 600 C are critical insofar as swelling is concerned. 2. Chemical Research and Development Plant t e s t s showed neptunium can be caused to follow along with plutonium and uranium in the Redox process and recent laboratory results point the way for isolating neptunium from the 3ASurprising stability and a ten per cent greater capacity was observed in pilot tests of pulsed column cartridges for graded nozzle plates with the nozzles pointing up rather :ban down. This finding is contrary to theoretical reasons behind the original nozzle plate design. Remote maintenance features of the ,Fission Product Packaging Prototype were demonstrated to meet design expectations of accessibili'y with a General Mills manipulator. Converting s a l t brine to a free-flowing powder. Though simple in concept is proving ?o be a troublesome operation in the apparatus. The simple process of mixing and aging the cleaning solutions contemplated for NPR decontamination may, in itself. prove +,o be an effective waste disposal s t e p because a manganese precipita-e forms and adsorbs most of the radionuclides exp e ced to be presen.. Corrosion properties of unannealed experimemal alloys of the HasTelloy-F type were found to be superior when titanium was included in lieu of niobium. Befter welding alloys should result,. Additional experimental alloys will be provided by contract wi:h Battelle Memorial Institute. Salt cycle process work included elucidation of plutonium behavior in the s y s t e m (as yet an anomaly), development of cathodic deposixion of U02 with consistently desirable properties. and the development of needed analytical me:hods for sals cycle chemical species. Avery sensi+ive and precise mexhod of measuring O/LT ratios in U02 by coulometric titration was reported. Slow dissolution and emulsification difficukies were encountered on typical PRTR plutonium fuel alloys under rondicions anticipated and may require ex:ended dissolution cycles. Silicon in the alloy causes :he difficul?-.

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product from the Radian?, Heal. Spray Calciner. tion with the simulated feed was observed without sugar or Effluent water from a zircaloy tube wi7.h over four years in concentration (ca. 2 5 per cent! :han amounts in effluent water f r o m aluminum tubes. TwenTy of the mos? prominen? radionuclide concentrations were measured. in both effluen? waters with values found to be equivalent o r lower in :he zircaloy system with *he excepzion of manganese noted. 3. Physics and Instrument Research and Development~ A preliminary study on the desirabil:c,y and technical feasibility of agromatic control of Hanford reac:ors w a s completed. mendations have been made to develop a sys*,em for the NPR, fuel elements in a n NPR-+ype core showed an inTeres+ing51 C 1at:ice cell to the center of the fue!. This effec+ IS caused by preferen-ial absorption of low energy neutrons. of an experiment 7 0 measljre fuel 'emperarGre coefficients a+,h i g h The Berkeley Elec?ronic Analog Simulation Equipment (EASE was delivered -&d installed, and cali b rafi on and testing are under way. Re a cor speed-of-control and NPR startup calculations were completed wi:h the GEDA andog compiiier. In the Nuclear Safe y Program, experimental svldiec: on :he poison. of 3. 2 g / l of boric acid to +,hewayer moderator would prevent a chain re aci on for any quan-ity of 1%enriched uranium. Improved compuwr codes were developed for crit,icali*.ycalcula-ion5. The Neurron Cross-Section Program suffrred a se:back when a d sri np operational reactor repair work.

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Methods a r e being developed for measuring the PRTR prompt neutron lifetime by recording data at the recorder on magnetic tape and using laboratory computer equipment for In the Nondestructive Testing Program, promising results a r e being obtained with infrared methods for determining :he heat transfer characteristics of fuel core to cladding bonding PCTR measurements were completed on the effect of a stainless steel loop in the EGCR iattice. Funds were received from the Air Force for support of additional basic studies on atmospheric diffusion and dispersion plans are underway to add more samplers. The field sampling grid is being reactivated and Calibrations for measuring K40 and Cs137 a civ it yin people are now in good agreement with results of other laboratories. Zn65 activities for different sub je cx show definite variations dependent upon work and home location. Work was completed on several activii.ies re,!a:ed to the development, of improved methods for neutron dosimetry. Whereas a power function, of time adequately describes reten:ion of strontium and calcium in adult rats, in weanling rats, r e - tention follows a function represented by the s u m of TWO expoDTPA administered to pigs one hour after P u injection cat-sed nearly 90 per cent of the administered P u to be excreted in the urine during the following six days. In con+,rols- given no DTPA, only one to two p e r cent was excreted in :he s a m e period. Ex+.remebjfavorabler esuks were obtained from a series of computer calculations made to evaluate and test, an advanced s*a*isTica; technique (Box-Wilson method) f o r determining op+imum fuel

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composit,ions in plutonium recycle reactors. interest was the verification that, only small interaction existed between the several plutonium iso+,opesin deTerrnining the reactivity lifetimes of fuels. Ir may :bus be possible to estimate the fuel value of a wide variety of plutonium c o m - positions- in a given reactor, by very simple formulas, Preliminary calculations were made 70 explore ?,he charac - ter is tics of mixed fuel cycles involving fast and thermal reactors and /or thermal systems using plutoniurn-thorium cycles and a r i s e from the higher PJ-241 content ob-tainable in the discharged fuel as compared wi7,h Pu-U-238 fuel cycle5 in which dilution of PU-241 by newly formed Pu-239 is unaEspecial advantages were evigent for the PC, -Th TECHNICAL AND OTHER SERVICES A letter summarizing the results of the K-reactors re!iab:!ity swdy the reliability of a system of arbitrary complexity has been discovered and is undergoing furr;her development. Further work has been done on the NPR reliability In this connection. a new and general technique for compatinp Work on six operations analysis programs continu-ed during -,he month. In addition, statistjcal and mathematical assistance on 26 problems was given within HLO and to other departments and operations. Three minor plutonium deposition cases were confirmed during February. Preliminary esTimates of the plutonium deposi:ion cases indicated that all were equal to or less than 10% of the maximum permissible body burden (mpbb = 0.04 p Pu). The :oral number of cases +hat have occurred at HAP0 is 249 of which 180 are cl.irrentiy The status of radiation and pluTonium work restr:c:ions for Hanford employees did no: change during 1959. Four employees including one collateral contractor employee, a r e restricred from all radia'ion work and 1 0 employees are restricted from plutonium work. tion Pilot Plant process established throughout, the Plutonium Fabric a -

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volving fabrication of plu?onium fuel elements. cal problems were encountered during s+,ar*,upactivities. T h e r e are 29 currently active HLO projects having combined authorized funds in the amount of $ 2 3 , 6 3 1 , 000. projects is $29, 7 9 6 , 0 0 0 . Of :he 29 projects, 19 are on o r ahead of schedule, and 1 0 are behind. difficulty except CGH-805 on which a revised project proposal has The total estimated cost of these No projects are known to be in financial Fluorescent penetrant testing and ultrasonic tesring of NPR process tubing sections were successfully demonstrated to representatives of the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, Chase B r a s s and Copper Company, Harvey Aluminum Company, Tube Reducing Corporauonand the AEC-HOO. These companies a r e potential suppliers of the NPR production process tubes. There were 36 existing J. A. Jones Company orders at :he beginning of the month with a total unexpended balance of $348 902. orders " three supplements and adjustments for underruns amounted to $119, 623; expenditures dcring the month on HLO work were $124 1 1 …