Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report May, 1958

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&.hU.LQ of 134 pages. copy FOLDER 0 IfiH-ORD LABORATORIES OPERATION. HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION THIS DO CUllEN TH AS BEEN SCANNED AND I S STORES ON THE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE This report was prepared only for use within General Electric Company in the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission Contract W-31- 109-Eng-52. Any views or opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors only. Route To: 1P.R. No. I Location I Route Date I Signature and Date

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Atomic Enern Commission, Hanford Operations Office E. J. Bloch, Director, Division of Production, Savannah River Qperations Office, Aiken, South Carolina

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General summary.................e vithrough xi Reactor and Fuels Research and Development Plutonium Recycle Program A2- 1 through A2- 12 Physics and Instrument Research and Development Employee Relations Operation ...........aa I- 1 through 1-6

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Fiscal year to-date costs are $l5,72O,OOO a t the end of May or 86$ of the FY 1958 Mid Year Review as adjusted to reflect changes received from the Product DepartCost-budget relationships for all programs are considered satisfactory at this tine. Funds for Biological Research are extrawily tight. Plutanium Recycle Research and Developmmt costs did not reach the level expected in May. end Developmmt and Process Techpol~gycosts for the Pmduct Departments were within budget Umitations. A significant undernm i n CPD-Process Technology is Design of the Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor is 80$ complete overall. ary construction is complete, the excavation .for the containment shell is about 9% comzpleted, and the Phase SI PRTR bid package v88 forwarded t o the AEC on schedule. Design of the Plutonium Fabrication P i l o t Plant is 48$ camplete. A process f o r extracting plutonium from aluminum eplploying liquid bismuth extractant is being investigated for reprocessing AI.-& a l l o y PRPl fuel. Plutanium is recovered from the bislmrth by re-ertracting w i t h molten caustic soda and leaching with hot water. reconverted t o Al-Pu alloy by the cryolite process. recovery approaching 99$ appears feasible. The plutonium &de residue is then Injection casting of aluminum into zircaloy-2 tubing has resulted in cast densities go$ of theoretical as compared t o 96-97$ when aluminum i s cast into sttxhless s t e e l tubes. Cause of the difference is being investigated. Irradiation of UO rod ed-ts fabricated by swaging revealed that no warp Hu clear Metals has produced additional pnndsing extrusions of ribbed PRTFf Zirealoy-2 jacket t u b a in the nominal tuo-inch and three-inch sizes. Initial burst tests o r PRTR Wrcaloy-2 process tubing at 300 C (6000 psi; lO$ higher than calculated) substantiate the design calculstions f o r these - 'l?hezmocouple instrumented cluster fuel elements o r an IPB type are operating satisiactori;ly with COR t-mtures o r 5 2 2 permit accurate prediction of fuel temperatures. C t o yield data which will

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Self-supported slugs, designed t o e1hnbxt.e misalignment and subsequent hot spot failures in current production reactors tubes are currently be- irradiated i n B Reactor. hme been fabricated and three Uranium castlng development has continued w i t h considerable success although initial casting of uranlum into zirconium jackets resulted in sporadic bonds. water jet-Impingement test to demonstrate a significantly hlgher erosiondard 1245 aluminum can stock. differences which appear t o occur in-reactor. The test vill be used to c lario similar Contrary t o previous conclusions, nev data for graphite irradiation a t 30 C indicate continued expansion, though a t a reduced rate, above 5000 MwD/AII in the range on out t o 8400 MwD/AT. Conceptual studies indlcate the technical feasibility of conducting Hanford high-temperature graphite irradiation experiments in one o r more Ml!R shim rods . witbout sacrificing the control rod feature. Experimental studies of AlSi bonding variables (conducted in a joint p r o w wlth PPD)’show that atoqh rather than a brittle bond on Htmford pmduction fuel elements is favored by increasing the tlxw, increasing the tempemtum, or decreasing the silicon content of the duplex preheat bath. show that the Panellit t r i p s apparently furnish protectinn at all tube powers. 2. Chemlcsl Research and Development Although plutoniupr absorption capacity was unaffected, -tion of Perm t it SFL resin removed af%er60 days in the p r u ~anion exchange unit showed greater resin 8- and bead cracking to have occurred than shown by previous prcpugtlon of the resin corrects this fault. The craa led to difficulty in resin bed movement. Calcined, Purer waste containing sul i ate lets the fission products leech out. On the other hand sulfate free waste releases ~ thu rium calcination. Phosphate addition reduces the ruthenium Yoletilizatlon. leachability but only partially stops -D@talleddrawings for the Cesium Isolation and packagins Prototype Facility are 65 percent caqletc. Procurement of capponents continued. Prelimintbq urperipents supported the feasibility of recoveriq strantlum-90 -from Puru 1WW by precipitation aa strontium nitrate with ir;rrming nitric acid. q wi bil it y was demonstrated for recovery of neptunium by anion exchange treatment of Puru backcycle wastes.- Ina two phnne molten system of aluminum and potassium almm chloride, plutonitllp distributes to the double salt phaae and uranium to the aluminum

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A t about TOO0 C a separation factor of 200 W ~ Smeasured a t one On Non-Production Fuels Reprocessing activities the Damx prototype dissolver was 90 percent completed. uranium losses during zirconium jacket dissolution. of a laboratory scale HBsteUoy F dissolver for Blr103-HF solutions. An enrichment of 18 percent in the plutonium content or an aluminum-plutonium a l l o y was echieved by the electrolytic repoval of alumhum in a molten cryolite Pilot plant Zirrlex study continued t o characterize Construction W ~ Si n it i a ted Study of radioisotopes in several sw les of the effluent from an experimental reector process tube cleaned with special cleaning colprpound gave infomatian wlth respect t o probable sources of isotopes. Na2 were hypothesized t o form from impurities or alloy constituents in the aluminum process tubes and appear i n process water as a result of corrosion. 3. Physics and Instrument Research and Developent For the Fmproved production reactor program, measurements of the reactivity of.clusters of l/2-inch dieter rods in v'srious lattice spacings continued. For present reactors, vork continued on the difficult experiments t o detexmine the reactivlty temperature coefficients at himr discharge levels and on the theoretical work necessary t o interpret the results. Endosing 0.9% enriched fuel elements in iroll pipe will eliminate concern about nuclear safety in shipping, handling, and storage before charging into the reactors. The pipe also provldes physical protection ror the elements. Other nuclear Wety experim&x indicated that the reactivity of mixtures Of pn rti ally dissolved and undissolved slugs Is not s in ply predictable from measurements mude on each type alone. slurries continued. Work on ren ct iv i ties of 2$ and 3$ In the Plutonium Recycle Program measurcpcpts of the neutron physics parameters of a nine-inch lattice were begun t o laprove understan- of the neutron behavior in all lattices of the PBTR tppe. for plutonium-aluminm fuel elements WFIl be of rather s m a l l size, about one foot in diameter, according t o calculations ccxpleted this mth. A nuclearly safe dissolver The 329 Building tepporary facility for tamlnation was recalibrsted foJJ.owing receipt of a new source. bration ellndnated one-&alf of the discrepsllcy between facility - urm ents &nd direct results op material ronroved frar wounds. wounds for plutaniunr con- .The prototype radi u tel ~ terin gdata station was received rrom the manufacturer required t o assure satisfactory operation. in the &vel-t of The tests so far indicate that only *or changes w i l l be Satisfactory progress vo8 made other radiation detectian and monitoring inst-ts.

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The prostate gland i rats chronically fed 2 1 3 ~ ~appears t o colrrpet with the skeleton as the critical organ. VLde an avenue for measuzmnent of Zn 5 deposition in the body because the gland is relatively accessible. It appears that atteqJts t o plerke Sr* unavailable t o plants by adding chemicals t o the soil to form insoluble strontium compounds wiU be effective only for relatively short periods of time. the strontium in insoluble compounds gr s du ally becomes increasingly available. PreUminary evidence indicates that Samewhat sFmilar t o EXYU, I;IPPA should be administered within one hour after plutonium gains entrance into the body for optimum effectiveness. In rats, tbree.-hour delays Fn administering EEPA &er plutonium injection resulted in twice the concentration of plutonium in the rat skeleton as compared with that when therapy was given within one hour. removed or prevented deposition of about 80 t o 90 percent of the plutonium wwch utxild have deposited had no DTPA been administered. The value of plutonium enrichment relative t o the value of U-235 enrichment was compared in a high neutron economy reactor aud a low neutron economy reactor. The results indicate that plutonium enrichment I s more productive t o the low neutron econw reactor than t o the high neutm economy reactor. I n conjunction with others, research and de vel mt pwp0saJ.s were prepared and trsnenritted t o the AEC concernizlg work deallng wlth the in and ex-reactor chemical reaction between C02 and graphite, and on lattice physics paremeters associated with gas cooled reactor geometries. Evalustion was mde of proposals submitted by concerns interested fs the desigp, developmint, and construction of a plant t o recover rare gases from separations plant effluents, and appropriate recommendatiOpS were forwarded t o the Chemical Processing Department. Work was c-leted on the preliminary engineering and economic ewaluation of processes for the recovery and packaging of waste fission products as of gross o r mixed fission products pay be less than m e cent per curie. It was determined thst the cost of large scale recovery quium w a s eminently successful. Techhical and Other Services @e 'case of plutonium deposition resulted fram a puncture wound t o a process Appr ~ x in us tel y0.01 pc (1/4 MPL) Pu was repw>ved by a small excision Surveys indicated about the s a amunt remained in the finger,

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Extensive work was done in connection with the evaluation of current rupture performanee of I and E fie1 elements, Kith particular emphasis on the uncertainty associated Kith extrapolation of prediction equations derived f o r standard fuel Statistical and mathematical assistance on 28 separate problems was given with EL0 and to other departments and operations. tistical properties associated with different nmu ~ ~of estirpstlng receipts, rem vals, and inventories for a glvea material balance area wa8 of particular A comprehensive study of the staExcluding the major PRP projects, there were 21 authorized projects at month end with total authorized funds of $5,u6,500. these authorized projects is $9,456,300. estimated project cost of $577,000. The total estimated project cost of There were no projects completed during Four new projects are awaiting AEC authorization; these have a total Proposals for four new projects are in A major declassification review program has been underway for approximately three twenty'gercent have been declassified and about the same number have been sent to the AEC Declassiiication Branch f o r review. About 4,200 early HBnford documents have been reviewed. Fifteen to A bibliography - abstract on uraniuru alloys was started. prepared on ASMSLA punch cards in accordance w i t h ASM metallurgical literature inclusion in this collection. Abstracts are being Approrimately 9,000 documents will be revlewed for possible A new foxm, which should reduce paperwork and permit ease of prepsration, is being designed to replace the IBH cards used by all coplponents in eubdtting weekly The amount of undernrns on appropriation requests continue to exceed the overruns, however, of the 93 completed requests s h e July 1, 1957, 54 (M)ha- deviated (either over or under) by more than 10% from the original estlmate. Work by the traveling auditors was about cauplete at the end of the month with the review of the fonnal report by the Wer,Word Laboratories and Manager, Flnance pending. There were no significant exceptions indicated. At month's end, the s t a f f of the Hanford Laboratories Operation totalled 1129, inc+uding 512 exeqt and 617 nonexempt employees. Of the total exePzpt eqloyees there -were 446 with college degrees, ~ncludipg428 technical degrees as foUows: Attitude survey follow-up discussions were completed in opc Level 4 component and h ope Level 5 component inthe Rodiation Protection Operation. cusslons w e r e initiated in the Physics and Instrument Research and Development P l a n s were essentially completed for the A.S.E.E. S-r Institute for Professors and AEC Radiological Physics Fellowship Programs. Both prograta8 WFU convene

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Tours were arranged for 40 WUa Walla College science students and 25 members of the Uma tiU a County Elementary Principals'hsociatlon. ConrmUrrity Relstlons Program, a tour was arranged for forty TriG l ty school Laboratories' personnel worked a total of 188,284 lpsn-hours during the month with no disabling injuries. completed with no disabling injuries. was 1.81 as compared with 1.75 durlng April. As part of the G.E. Since September 1,1956, 3,962,890 man-hours have been The medical treatment rrequency f o r May There *re 4 security violations during the month, bringing the total for the Nomen A. S t o l l , a Portland attorney, has been appointed by the Federal Mediation and ConcFllatlon Service as arbitrator in the UkL case. A t the May Suegtstion Board Meeting 12 suggestions were approved f o r awards totalling $255. For the year to date 45 suggestions have been approved for awards- o r $1,345 with an average award o r $29.66 and a ratio of award t o savings Jack L. Poe, Engineering Assistant, Reactor and puels Research and Development, vas the recipient o r a GE scholarship. Mr. Poe has accepted and is SfiangFng t o enroll in the university o r washington in the ru. A Fealj@mcnt of functional responsibilities and organizational structuring within the Tecbnlcal Information Operation was cozupleted and made effective during May. The annual reconciliation t r l p scheduled during MEY was completed with visits being made t o the following Campeny co~qxments: Aircraft nuclear prapulsian Departprent Flight Propulsion Laboratory Depsrtsltrrt Ibolls Atomic Power Isboratory General Engineering Laboratory

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EIEACTOR AND FUELS RES3A.RCE-AND DEVELOPMENT OPERATION Aluminum Can Stock Comparisons. The new HAPO-standard can material, Alcoa aluminum alloy C-64, is similar t o the Aluminum Association standard 1245 aluminum alloy except for limiting the iron content t o a minimum of 0.35 w t percent. for resistance t o rapid high temperature corrosion by autoclaving i n a sample of 1245 alloy frcm Alcoa. Samples of alloy C - 6 4 have been studied Materials fmm two vendors were canpared with Both C-64 alloys corroded less than The results after one month are as Alloy Corrosion in Mils Both C - 6 4 alloys corroded somewhat less than the one sample of 1245 of the Alcoa C - 6 4 sample may be related toa special annealing …