Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report June, 1958

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Sipnature and Date This document consists HANFORD LABORATORIES OPERATION MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPORT HANFORD ATOMIC! PRODUCTS OPERATION Operati on Managers RICHLAND, WASHING TON THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SCANNED was prepared only for use within General Electric the course of work under Atomic Enerm Commission

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Atomic Energy Coriunission, 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 xi Reactor and Fuels Research and Development Physics and Instrument Research and Development

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

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BUDGETS AND COSTS Total costs f o r FY 1958 are $17,762,000 o r 9'$ of the FX 1958 Budget. June costs of $2,041,000 were up substantially from $1,524,000 In May due t o the increase in volume of billlngs and accruals at the year's end. Cost-budget relationships f o r certain key categories of HLO work are as follows: costs Budget $ spent HLO Research and Development Programs $ 5 824 R and D f o r Product Departments 5 056 5 253 964 Costs do slightly exceed the budget in certain AEC activities. Reactor Research and Development costs exceed the budget by $39,000. is offset i n part by an underrun of $3O,OOO in Reactor Development Equipment Not Included In Construction Projects. underruns in the Gas-Cooled Reactor Studies and the mitime Gas-Cooled Reactor R and D leaving the total 4000 Program within the Financial Plan. Biological Research costs exceeded the budget by $14,000. Doslme!try, Instrumentation and Biology and Medicine Equipment Not Included in Construction Projects are adequate to offset this overrun leaving the 6000. Program within the Financial Plan. The balance, $9,000 is more than offset by Und ems in Biophysics, 1. Reactor and Fuels O v e r 4 design of PR!FR is 8% complete. Design verification testlng of PRTR cauponents showed the need for flow monitors of shorter response time and for further minor modifications of cabadria design t o reduce moderator dump time on reactor scram. Shroud tube bellows testing is proceeding satisfactorily. Fabrication of the end taper of PRTR Wrcaloy-2 process tubes, heretofore a major problem, has been accomplished a t HAP0 by warm swaging and a t the Tube Reducing Corporation by tube reducing. The first sintereP PuO2-UO2 compacts have been fabricated. A novel rinsing method may alleviate occasional local corrosion sensitivity of Zircaloy fuel cladding and porosity of PU-AI. Injection cast into Work has started on capsule irradiation experiments f o r the In-reactor study of the C02-graphite reaction in the pressure range of Interest f o r gas The first extended exposure of alum bum alloy-clad fuel elements t o 240 C water has been completed in KER Loop Bo. 4. Hot-pressed I and E segnented

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with phosphoric acid inhibitor. Pre lh ry observation indicated negligible Two vendors are nearing completion in the fabrication of prototype --size Stainless steel clad, b-rod, cluster fuel elements have been discharged from HER Loop 3 af'ter a z ~exposure of 2250 WD/T. Coolant temperature was 235 C A series of Zircaloy-2 clad uranium rods uith varying clad thicknesses have been defected and exposed to 225 C water. occurred depending on whether or not the individual sample had been beta heat treated. These experiments indicate that the"value of beta heat treatment of such elements must be restudied. mked difference in sample behavior The experimental sl tion of events following a sudden flow reduction in a C Reactor process tube contaFning I and E fuel elements was completed. for K Reactor, the results indicate that the proper reactor instrumentation can offer adequate protection f o r such events at power levels higher than the Laboratory studies are reported which assisted Puwr plant tests aimed at characterizing recovery of neptunium from back cycle wastes. shown to build up in concentration as wastes are backcycled and hence these back cycle streams are attractive sources for neptunium needs. recovery is by ion exchange. Neptunium has been Work continued on strontium recovery from synthetic low volume per ton waste by a process precipitating strontium nitrate using fuming nitric acid. process is somewhat complicated by sulfate in the waste feed. The Flrst results from an experimental spray calcination unit show a synthetic waste feed converts to well fonned spherical beads with no tendency toward Satisfactory pellets were pressed from the calciner beads. reported on the direct calcination of conventional and sulfate-free Purex of reasonably lowleachability. in attaining these high sintering temperature!s. Bulk density of the beads was low and the particles were fragile. Work is also Sintering at 1300 C with added phosphate produces solids Of course, both ruthenium and cesium volatize Experiments using the laboratory scale Flurex cell continued to supply answers of operational inrportance. migrated through the cation membrane and maintained about the same Pu/U ratio in the catholyte. Further studies on decontamination from Ru and Zr-ZJb confirm previous work to show low decontamination factors for these elements. Tests with molten (anhydrous) WF.EF confirmed an OBk Ridge report that this material at its melting point (ca.- 120 C) w i l l dissolve zirconium oxide films Trace quantities of plutonium in the UNH feed

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on Zircaloy-2. Reaction of this melt with the substrate Zircaloy-2 was deemed too vigorous f o r plant use, however. nominal composition NH F.2HF reduces the melting point t o 20 t o 30 C , however, could be safely considered fora plant application. This process may have application as a backup method t o dissolve zirconium oxide sludges o r films i n the event that zirconium oxide dissolution becomes a problem associated with the zi r flex process. Addition of hydrogen fluoride t o the and enables the oxide 1ilm t o be removed a t a lower temperature at rates which A study was initiated t o dete-e the experimental feasibility of producing low neutron crose-eection mercury rich in isotope 204. using a distillation-diffusion separation techuique have been initiated. Other study showed a Bi-Pb-Hg-UO when mercury was boiled off, congensed, and returned t o the system. very preliminary experiments are scouting the potential use of vaporized mercury t o remove heat from a Si-Pb-UO2 reactor fuel system. A facility for the non-destructive test lng of M!L!R fuel plates for plutonium content was designed, fabricated, calibrated and transferred t o Plutonium Metallurgy f o r routine use. core content equivalent t o 0.020 inches of Al-14 w/o Pu alloy t o a precision of one per cent relative. slurry system t o have no apparent instability The instrument is capable of determining plutonium Scanning t i m e per plate is about two minutes. 3 . Physics and Instruments Research and Development Measurements of the reactivity of clusters of 1/2-diemeter rods continued f o r the Fmproved production reactor program. enrichment will be required if this fuel element type is used. In the nuclear safety field, sub-critical experiments were performed with 1.6% enriched fuel elements In water. actually obtained and those predicted from exponential type experiments i s reassuring inasmuch as exponential experiment results have been used extensively at HAP0 in set tia g nuclear safety criteria on enriched uranium piecesi Results t o date indicate that The good agreement between the results The experiments also served as a shakedown run preparatory t o doing experiments Kith enriched material where no exponential results are available. A nuclear safety review of fire protection plans for 234-5 Building indicated that hazardous conditions would result from the use of water sprays. In the Plutonium Recycle Program a method f o r treating outward neutron flow (leakage) in a lattice reactor has been conceived which represents a substantial improvement in accuracy over simple methods widely used but also avoids the complications of existing more exact methods. The experiments on the 9-inch l a t t i c e have been completed and the results are currently being analyzed. Field measurements on t h e atmospheric physics aspects of the Wahluke Slope problem indicated that under unstable atmospheric conditions material originating i n the reactor areas will ascend the bluffs acro8s the river with only a Bmau portion diverted downstream.

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Testing of the prototype radiotelemetering data station was completed and it has been returned t o the fabricator with recommendations f o r minor changes In t h e basic data field, work was resumed on the measurement of neutron slowing down with an improved experimental set-up. was found t o require improvement in the arrangement f o r obtaining a beam from The new neutron spectrometer Completion of 100 days chronic feeding of SrgO and Ca45 a t various levels o to talCa in the diet showed a variation in the observed ratio of Sr9' t o Ca retained in bone from 0.08 on t h e 0.03 per cent C a die3 t o 0.39 on the 2.0 per cent Ca diet. of a constant observed ratio of about 0.25. continue t o have an important bearing on the national posture with respect t o Concentrations of S p in alfalfa harvested from SrgO contaminated plots was not influenced by cultivation and was about half the l e v e l observed in the same plots last year. deeper roots by this perennial plant. Estimates of Sr9O hazard are usually based on the assumption Local findings in this field The decrease is presumably due t o the establishment of Inhalation of F,DTA o r M!PA aerosols by rats reduced the @-hour lung retent i o n of intratracheally injected plutonium by a factor of 2. of plutonium was not markedly affected. B Plutonium Recycle Aualysis, a sufficient number of 702 Computer plots should be available by early August t o permit the derivation of plutonium f u e l values for well thermalized reactor systems. The fuel values are only applicable t o reactors opera tain an American public utilities enslronment. A modified "Lambda" computer code, identified as Wessex B, has been fonrmlsted. It is believed this new code will facilitate reactor studies employing different fuel compositions yet using a single spectral index. ham been prepared f o r PRTR operation. from a heavy water reflector are clear in this and other studies in the re qc le program. The substantial benefits accruing Tecbnlcal and Other Services b e apparently -or case of plutonium deposition occurred when em employee in the 234-5 Building received a contaminated puncture wound. As a precautionary measure aamU amount of tissue was excised from the finger tip. Ana,lysis indicated less than 5$ of the MPL whs removed and about the sane amount remained at the wound

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The interim report on the CPD control study was issued during the month and several. additional reports contalning specific recommendations are in process. The study of operator coverage of substations in the outer areas was completed and a report submitted. Statistical and mathematical assistance on 26 separate problems was given within HLO and it0 other departments and operations. The results of a trial adoption by FPD of a long-etaading recommendation that control charts be maintained on each canning line individually and the lag t i m e in posting these charts be reduced were particularly gratifying. I Excluding t h e major PRP projects, there were 23 authorized projects at month end with total authorlzed funds of $6,482,300. these authorized projects is $9,545,300. The design and construct contract for the High Level Radiochemistry Cell addition t o 325 Building (Project CA-749) was awarded t o the B. D. Bohna Company, Ssn Francisco. The ccmtract price is $574,504; fair cost estimate was $673,000. The contractor has started'work and detailed design work i s progressing rapidly. The total est'hsted project cost of One project was completed during the Two new projects are awaiting AM: authorization; these have a tot& cost ~ rapo ~ a l sf o r four new projects are in preparation. An engineering report evaluating alternate proposals for cong tru ct iq the Critical ass Laboratory was submitted t o AEC. struction for the facility and the project proposal is being modified accordingly. This report recolmnends conventional conThe amount of undernms on appropriation requests continue t o exceed the over ms, however, of the 100 completed requests since July 1, 1957, 5% have deviated ( e i t h e r over o r under) by wre than lo$ from the original estimate. This percentage is unchanged from the previous month. FY 1958 accrua3 policies have been determined and preUmln8ry work is being conducted necessary for year end purchase order accruals. Arrangements have been made by letters t o vendors and through HOO-AEC t o procure June's costs on outstanding Procurement Directives. rendered but not billed on GE contracts (excluding Zirconium). of each contract WES contacted t o determine extent of liability. operation was also contacted t o insure against our making an accrual and d s o receiving an actual charge. Accrual entries have been prepared for services A t month's end, the staff of the Hanf'ord Laboratories Operation totalled Up, including 520 exenpt and 63.2 nonexenpt employees. there were 454 with college degrees, including 436 technfcal degrees as follows: Of the total exempt employees, Approximately one-half of the employees in the Physics and Instrument Resaerch and Development Operation have been covered by attitude survey follow-up !!!he 1958 AM= Radiological Physics Fellowship Program started June 16, 1958. A t o t a l of 1 5 Fellows are participating; 9 from the University of Washington and 6 from the University of Kansas.

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The Chemical Processing portion of the 1958 Summer Institute of Nuclear Energy started on June 23, 1958. Savannah River will take part in this eight-week program. Ten college professors and one AEC employee from Laboratories personnel worked a t o t a l of 182,035 man-hours during the month with no disabling injuries. have been completed wit $ no disabling injuries. The medica treatment frequency for June was 1.86 as camrpared with 1.81 during By. Since September 1, 1956, a total of 4,145,225 man-hours There were2 security violstions during the month, bringing the total for the Negotiations with Regional Monitors have been temporarily suspwded pending further discussions within the HAMIIC. The Mahi arbitration case is tentatively scheduled for the week of Octaber 6. Oral notices of force reduction w e r e given t o 19 nonexenpt employees and 3 exempt employees in Radiatlm Protection Operation. other assigments is progressing satisfactorily. Placement of these individuals i n A t the June Suggestion Board meeting 5 suggestions were approved f o r awards totalling $ i,b5, bringing our average award t o $28.67 and our ratio of awards For the year t o date, 49 suggestions have been approved for awards Hanford Laboratories’ participation in the Ehployee Be a ef it Plans is as follows: 1958 Insurance Pension Plan Stock Bonus savings Plan The necessary work in revising the Ehuployee Relations Operation to include those functions …