Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report June, 1959 (Deleted)

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This document consists Route To: P. R. No. Location Route Date Signature and Date This report was prepared only for use within General Electric Company in the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(45-11-1350. Any views o r opinions expressed in the report a r e those of the authors only.

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17 - 20 Atomic Energy Commission, Hanford Operations Office, 21 - 23 E. J. Bloch, Director, Division of Production, 24 Savannah River Operations Office, Aiken, South Carolina

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Force Report and Personnel Status Changes. ... Reactor and Fuels Research and Development Physics and Instrument Research and Development Chemical Research and Development Operation . Operations Research and Synthesis Operation ..e Radiation Protect ion Ope ration ....... Laboratdry Auxiliaries Operation ....... Professional Placement and Relations Practices...

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Manager, Hanford Laboratories ....... Manager, Chemical Research and Development Manager, Laboratory Auxiliaries ..... Manager, Operations Research and Synthesis Manager, Physics and Instrument Research and Manager, Radiation Protection. ..... Manager, Reactor and Fuels Research and Manager, Professional Placement and Relations

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BUDGETS AND COSTS Costs for June were $2, 579, 000 an increase of $736, 000 from the month of May. Total operating costs for Fiscal year 1959 were $20,424, 000 or 97'7'0 of the operating budget of $21, 044, 000. were99% of the budget. direct service HLO performs for other HAP0 departments, and Washington Operating costs for Research and Development The major underruns occurred in general overhead, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 1. Reactor and Fuels PRTR Phase I and II contracts are complete. Final inspections have been PFPP P h a s e 11 construction is estimated to be 99. 5 percent complete. Completion is expected July 15. complete v s 7 0 percent scheduled. building during the week of July 6. PFPP Phase 111 is estimated at 62 percent The PFPP service wing has been . accepted and a partial force of operations personnel will move into the In heat transfer experiments with the Mark I1 (concentric tubular) fuel element, boiling burnout w a s experienced at a heat flux of 1, 568, 000 BTU / h r / f t at an outlet temperature just below saturation. This compares favorably with the design value for maximum heat flux of 400, 000 B T U / h r / f t . Fabrication of the PRTR Zircaloy-2 process tubes has been completed, with 95 tubes having been inspected and accepted at the vendor's plant. Eight-eight of these tubes are already on site. Zyglo fluorescent dye penetrant testing of the outside surfaces of 2700 thinw a l l Zircaloy-2 PRTR jacket tubes showed 38 percent of the nominal 3/4-1n tubes and 48 percent of the 1/2-in. tubes to be free of outside-surface cracks and flaws, and about 10 percent of each group to be unuseable. Further tests are in progress to determine the acceptability of the remain - ing, intermediate quality tubes. Irradiation of evaporated uranium dioxide films and subsequent examination by electron microscopy has revealed straight line tracks. account the accumulated exposure of 2 x 1016nvt, and calculating the number of fissions per micron2, the density of tracks correlates well with the number which should be observed if the tracks were the results of fission The prototype mechanical seal pump and PRTR spare pump were operated nearly full time during June with seal leakage of less than half the design

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Zircaloy clad, aluminum core elements have withstood thermal cycling under PRTR conditions f o r the required number of cycles. When cycled at twelve times the PRTR heating and cooling rates and over 60 times the required number of cycles s i m i l a r elements failed by swelling of the core and rupture of the cladding. ditions under which thermal ratcheting causes excessive deformation of this type of element. Tests are continuing to define the conLarge s c a l e reduction of plutonium oxide by aluminum in a cryolite bath has produced extrusion billets of plutonium-aluminum alloy of the desired composition and quality. Various aluminum alloys modified to improve their corrosion resistance have been injection cast in Zircaloy and thin wall stainless steel with good bond formation and low porosity Alumina powder packed into flattened stainless steel tubes and rolled has been compacted to 9 0 percent of theoretical powder density. may be useful for fabrication of PuO2-inert diluent spike elements. Following the irradiation of 0. 630 inch diameter enriched coextruded, Zircaloy-2 clad uranium r o d s to 2200 NIWD/T, cracking of the uranium metal and average diameter increases of 0. 010 inch were reported. Enriched coextruded rods of 0. 593 inch diameter irradiated to 1500 MWD/T are now being examined. These rods, operating a t the same maximum temperatures as the prior irradiation showed only 0. 002 inch average diameter increases, and no cracking of the uranium metal has been The end closure process developed for use on coextruded fuel rods has been applied in the closure of 112rods. instrumentation, reject rates should be sharply diminished. Three were defective. With improved In defected element rupture testing, a fuel rod specimen that had been beta treated, water quenched, and aged at 4 7 5 C for 350 hours performed better than unaged specimens. Further tests will be performed to verify Irradiation testing of NPR candidate graphites at temperatures up to 1000 C will be initiated in the GETR, beginning in August, in order to supplement experiments already under way in the MTR and ETR. irradiation experiment in the L-48 s h i m rod of the MTR w a s inserted the week of June 2 9 . The second graphite Chemical Research and DeveloDment Characterization of the cerium - rare earth sulfate precipitate from the Purex 1WW waste (synthetic) established likely mean particle sizes and,

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general filtration behavior. to r e a c h 300 - 500 C during recovery and shipment: simulated heating to 500 C indicated property changes may occur which would impede nitric acid dissolution for subsequent processing. nitric acid relieved this problem. Self-heating may cause the actual precipitate At race of fluoride in the The first processing run was completed to convert cesium zinc ferrocyanide s l u r r y to cesium chloride in the Fission Product Isolation and Packaging Prototype. General behavior was satisfactory, but numerous process adjustments were indicated. to be completed. The mechanical packaging component remains Extraction of neptunium from synthetic 1WW Purex waste was demonstrated as the extractant. Yields were good. Calcined products f r o m synthetic high level waste solutions were produced by the radiant heat s p r a y calciner, by batch calcination, and at ANL in a fluid bed unit. A wide range of product bulk density and thermal conductivity resulted, depending on the composition of feed waste solution and the process Dense glassy solids were produced by firing typical high aluminum waste powders with borate additives. Added materials affected both process behavior and product properties. Gamma radiation measurement as a function of depth in 200 E a s t Area monitoring w e l l s showed an expected downward migration of radioactive waste emitters in the soil near active crib sites over the period of ayear since the last measurements. Several wells near heavily utilized cribs show'ed activity all the way to ground water. Measurements n e a r inactive disposal sites near the T-Plant in 200 West Area showed a maximum soil penetration of 1 2 0 feet which is well above ground w a t e r . migration occurred at sites a t which no wastes have been charged for the last two o r three years. Twelve hundred simulated startup s and shutdowns were successfully completed on bench tests of the U03 C@ciher Control Programmer.Plans to automate the UO3 Pl-t will follow from this development. A s much as three percent of the U02was dispersed as small suspended particles (10 to 20 microns) when stainless steel clad swaged U02 fuel rods were sheared under water. The prototype shear (30 tons nominal) has cut an equivalent of two tons of power fuel elements (10, 000 s q u a r e inches). Wear data indicated that for each ton of rods processed an incremental ton of force was necessary to operate the shear blades. Nitrate ion was shown to affect adversely the dissolution of stainless steel

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clad fuel in a Sulfex system (sulfuric acid). Stainless steel dissolution rates decreased and uranium dioxide rates increased when nitrate ion was present in amounts g r e a t e r than about 0. 01 M. Continuing work on the dissolution of irradiated UO2 in boiling sulfuric acid showed 3000 MWD/T material dissolves very slowly (0.0006 percent per hour) in the presence of stainless steel constituents in the acid. ture reaction rates for Sulfex systems. The presence of air was shown to affect room tempera r Test runs were initiated in a Sulfex pilot plant dissolver. the stainless steel charge was observed when acid addition rates were low o r dissolution of the stainless steel after passivation had occurred. The presence of mild steel in the charge was shown to start Laboratory tests indicated that plutonium losses during the Zirflex decladding of Pu-A1 rods can be significantly reduced by pretreating the Pu-A1 rods with a nitric acid etch. Both U03 and U308were converted to soluble U02C12 when chlorine was added to a fused salt mixture of the oxides. also forms the uranyl chloride. crystalline U 0 2 w a s shown to be quantitative. path of fission products in this system resulted from cycling an irradiated Previous work showed U 0 2 Zinc reduction of the U02C12 to form Some characterization of the Enrichment of mercury-202 in natural mercury by photoactivation was Phosphorus-32 in reactor effluent water was shown to be primarily in the f o r m of orthophosphate as an equilibrium mixture of H2PO4 - and HPO4 = 3. Physics and Instrument Research and Development The first two full-scale experiments in the AEC-Air Force atmospheric physics program were run. ated in a satisfactory manner. prevented additional runs during the month. All portions of the experimental system oper - Lack of favorable weather conditions F o r the IPR program, exponential experiments with concentric tube fuel elements continued, and measurements were made in the PCTR on sevenrod, slightly enriched cluster elements. Experimental work continued in the field of nuclear safety of 3% enriched Non-Production Fuels in both dissolving and subsequent processing.

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In the Shielded Personnel Monitoring Station, calibration work continued, assisted by the acquisition of a phantom. brated for emergency u s e in the Van de Graaff laboratory in event of personnel exposure during a criticality accident. All radiotelemetering data stations south of the Columbia River a r e now calibrated and operating. In the basic data field, analysis of the recently completed experiments on the slowing down of neutrons in w a t e r and an organic liquid revealed agreement between the results and calculations from basic principles. An improved neutron ''temperature" detector was conceived for use in lattice experiments and exploratory work to test its feasibility w a s begun. The proportion of Srg Op resent in the blood of miniature pigs was lower following relatively higher dose than following a lower dose, suggesting that radiation damage may lead to a decreased rate of removal of Sr gO from the skeleton, possibly as a result of vascular damage. Absorption of glucose from the irradiated (1500 r) rat intestine was normal at one-day post irradiation, inhibited 60 percent at 3 and 6 days, and back to normal levels by 10 days, indicating that the absorption defect parallels pathologic damage to the intestine. Additional studies of the radiation protective effect of erioglaucine on a different strain of mouse (CF1) are considerably less impressive than previous results. Fifteen days following 800 r x-irradiation, 10 of 15 control mice were dead, while 7 of 15 mice protected with 960 mg erioglaucine /kg w e r e dead. At lower levels of erioglaucine administration, mortality w a s higher than in controls. These results will require A survey was completed on the nuclear safety aspects of Plutonium Metallurgy Operation laboratories. A revised schedule for fueling the PRTR based on more accurate fuel burnup estimates was transmitted to the Commission. The meeting of the Program Directors of the Division of Biology and Medicine w a s held a t Hanford on June 8 and 9.

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TECHNICAL AND OTHER SERVICES A r e p o r t on the development work in the area of model building using multivariate statistical techniques was presented to OR personnel from other General Electric components on June 8 and 9, and to members of the Office of Operations Analysis and Forecasting, AEC, on June 10. Further analysis designed to locate the optimum combination of preheat and submerge times in the canning cycle confirmed previous results, and a three month trial run on one canning line a t the estimated optimum cycle will be started in the near future. Work in connection with i n - reactor corrosion data has developed in a continuing program of analysis jointly sponsored by HLO and IPD. Work on the input-autput simulation study and ten operations analysis programs continued during the month. One new operations analysis program was defined based on previous statistical work. In addition, statistical and mathematical analysis on 15 problems w a s given within HLO and to other departments and T h e r e were 2 2 authorized projects at month's end with total authorized funds of projects w e r e completed during the month. Two new projects are awaiting AEC completed and awaiting transmittal to AEC. The total estimated cost of these projects is $8, 646, 500. Six project proposals a r e in preparation with an additional four Project work is proceeding generally as scheduled and within the limits of the Addition is ahead of the total project schedule but the Contractor is behind his schedule which could affect the building ready-for-use date. Current progress is about a t the scheduled rate. Facility, Project CA-749, is slightly behind schedule. Gunite placement of the heavy aggregate concrete w a s slower than anticipated due to equipment limitations caused by the weight of the aggregate and the density control of the Project CA-744 for the construction of the 306 Building The Contractor on the High Level Radiochemistry Activity for the Radiographic Testing Operation this month reached a record level reflecting the output of increased manpower and the r e s u l t s of the tube testing program. Eighteen thousand, two hundred and forty-three tests were Two significant classification developments occurred during the month: (1) Hanford production data for periods subsequent to June 30, 1958 were

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downgraded from Top Secret to Secret.. Serxet, to Confidential. classified no higher than Confidential. (2) The NPR was downgraded from Actual plutonium output from the NPR w i l l remain Essentially all other information on the NPR …