Hanford Works Monthly Report for January 1953 (Deleted)

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Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Commission Hanford Operations Office Atomic Energy Conrmission

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Technical Services Unit................ Radiological Qciences Department ................. Manufacturing Cost Section ................. Zqineering Cost Section ................... Utilities and General Services Department Employee and Public Relations Department .............K - 1 thhroulh K-36 Comn it y Services Section ................. Recreation and Civic Affairs Unit .......... Iiichland Public Library ................ Real Estate Section ....................

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HAN??ORD WORKS MONTHLY REPORT Production in the Metal. Preparation Section represented 101 percent of forecast. The melt plant established a new record of production on a three shift basis as a result of improved yields and less crucible breakage. In the Reactor Section, reactor output production was 111.3 percent of forecast. Due t o unscheduled outages at F when the Ball 3X system was activated and a t D where there were two process water leaks, the total reactor input production was 97.8 percent of forecast. There were two uranium jacket failures during January. The B reactor was shut down from January hto January 29 for the installation of the Ball 3X safety system. 106 percent of forecast was obtained i n Redax, while production i n the Canyon Building represented 98 percent of forecast. of forecast, and production of uranium as U03 was 102 percent of forecast. The TBP plant reached 105 percent Engineering and Technology The third increment of the large scale enrichment a t the H Pile was loaded on January 9, 1953, bringing the t o t a l investment t o 2 1 ldlograms. An increase of about ten percent in pile power output can be attributed to this level of The t h i r d month of Metal Recovery operation resulted i n the production of 192 tons of uranium from underground; this is an increase i n capacity over each of the previous months. Design progress on Project CA-S12-R, 1004 Reactor Facilities,was advanced 8.25 during January t o 59.3% completion. Facility was advanced t o 9% completion, Expansion, reached 60% completion. the Recuplex installation, CGlr96, was extended t o July 1, 1953. Progress on design scope for the Pura Design scope forCA - Sa, 330 Area Tbe scheduled completion date f o r design of Three work stoppages occurred during the month. 103 plumbers employed by the CPFF construction contractor for 100-K kea. Fkcessive emission of The largest was caused by about from the Redox plant occurred Over approximately a Personnel and Services Retroactive payments were made t o employees i n January i n connection with the recent 4.13% general salary increase. Atthe request of the AEC Fiance Division, the Internal Audit Section of the Financial Department assumed the responsibility f o r auditing approximately 350 Senera1 Electric purchase orders.

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‘ork in connection with the preparation of the budget f o r the FY 1 S S and revision af the budget for the FT 1954 w a s begun i n January. Richland was awarded first place ina national contest sponsored by the National Fire Prctection Association for fire prevention activities, The t o t a l number of. housing applications pending is 7L6. S i x trainees f r o m the du Pont Company and one trainee from the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory were assigned t o Hanford Works during the month f o r training Forty-two adopted suggestions were approved by the Suggestion Committee f o r awards during the month totaling $960. Turnover decreased from 1.ui n December t o 1.2% i n Januarg.

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Manager, Schenectady Office ................... 9. R. Prentice Assistant t o the General Manager, Technical ........... W. I. Patnode Manager, Engineering .......................A. 3. Sreninger Manager, Com n it y Real Estate and Services ........... L. F. Euck

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T5e net produetion for the month was 151tone, vhich included 42 tons of 4-inch m ste rid and 109 tom of 8-inch Pr teri d. This represents 101 percent of forecaet . The ming yleld w a ~68.2 percent for 4-inch and 82.3 percent for 8-inch material. Machining was limited t o 8-1- production with the exception of a small mwunt of 4-inck mter l sl that was fabricated from rod ends. The cenning field VM 71.6 percent for 4-inch material and 72.6 percmt for 8-inch cul ties experienced with procurement of 8-1nch cans and caps. Tbe melt plant produced 92 tone, of billets wlth a yleld of 84.8 percent and a solid yleld of 95.5 percent. basis and resulted fram improved yields and l e s s crucible breakage. Eight-Inch canning production was curtailed somewhat: because of diffilhls establishes a new record of production on a three shift There was one autoclave failure. the weld. This MB a 4-inch piece that had a pinhole in The t o t d reactor input production was 97.8 percent of forecast resulting from unscheduled outages at F when the Ball 3X system was activated, and at D where there were t w o process water leaks. Reactor output production was l l l . 3 percent of forecast. Established maximum reactor levels were increased 15 MU during the month resulting from an increase of 10 MW at B and 5 MW a t F. There were two u r a n i u m jacket failures during January, both were Group 8 material, at F reactor. A t o t a l of 27.8 hours of outage was spent in removing these ruptures. The B reactor VUI shut down from January 4to January 29 for the installation of the Ball 3X safety system. A total of 591.3 hours was required for this work. I n Redox, 151 m a were started representing 106 percent of forecast. 10 runs was started in the Canyon Building, representing 98 percent of forecast. The TBP plant produced 179 tons of uranium as UNH, which was lo5 percent of foreper day u s i n g 12.6 percent TBP by volume RAX. 5.7 tons per day for the month wlth 1 - A column waste losses between 0 . 1 and 9 percent reported, and an average of 2 percent. "A" l i n e made a capacity test indicating a possible nominal rate of 5.7 tons Operating rates varied between 2 and

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The "B" line operated between 2 and 6 tons per day rate with 30 percent TBP in the RAX feed. waste losses were 3.6 percent. constderable pot foaming occur lag during processing of UNH from the TBP plant that had been stored since December. 1-A waste losses averaged 1.9 percent for the month. Overall Decont-tion vata uniformly good. vas produced and VM 102 percent of forecast. The prnducticm wam obtained 2th a mixture. of Redox and TBP Una, with The fail- of three sludge p q s , the elurry accumulator pump and plugged lines seriously handicapped the production effort from the m e t a l vaste storage tanks in the waste farms. The operating responsibility for the Building 101 Shop, and the responsibility f o r maintenance and power operatione for this building were relinquished by the Metal Reparation and Reactor Sections, respectively, on January 4. P. E. Lowe and F. 0. Tabb were v i s i t o r s at the hl4P Project at Lockland, Ohio, during the month. Total of Roll Janusry 1, 1953 3300 Total on Roll January 31, 1953 3302

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AIL persona -ed iP work thst might reasonably be expected to result La fnventiona or disc mr les advise that, t o the best of their l m o v l ~and belief, no inventions or discoveries were made in the course of their work during the period covered by this report except aa listed below. Such persons further advise that, for the period therein covered by this report, notebook records, if any, kept in the course of their work have been examined f o r possible inventions or

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Operating responsibility for the 101 Shop was relinquished on January 4. Jaya ry December To Date Bare Pieces Machined (k",Tana) Bare Pieces Machined (8",Tons) Machining Yield (8")( e )Total Pieces Uh in ed (Tons) Acceptable Pieces Canned (b",Tons) Acceptable Pieces Canned (8",Tons)

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Metal Re pur tion Section Jururrg December To Date Total hmpt.ble Pieces Canned Melt Plant Solid Yield ( e ) 95.5 Qide Burned ( U e i @ t Out Tons) 11 Poison Canned ( w e r Pieces) 4450 Spacial Requests (hha Hours) 1778 305 Routine Tests (Mu¶ Hours) 3.22 305 Special Tests (Man Hours) 606 Melt Plant Billet Yield (e) Total Steaa Generated (M lbs) 23600 27000 T o t a l Water Average Rate (gpm) 837 8 0 5 Sanitary Water rrom 3000 Area 'Ihe material machined consisted of 17s Hanford cast billets and with the exception of the 4-inch mrterirl t h a t MB fabricrted from ceipt of Fernald mrchined slugs. Machining w18 limited t o 8-1nch production Inventory of 4-inch mrterirl was supplemented by reI h e net production of acceptable canned slugs M E 151 tons, of which 725 were 8-inch. Net production is defined as the mount produced in the 300 Area less rejects returned from the 100 Areas. The over8I.l yield MS somcvhat leso than for December. Those reject crtegories which incrersed significantly were non-seat and froat t e s t and poor bond. Those rejects which improved were A1si

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RerultrJfraa test lutr of material canned with Hunter-Doug188 cans and blisters md that 8-inch c a p are muatisfactory becruse of a heavy oxide filn which prevented vctt- in the AlSi. thrt the &-inch cum arc unsatisfactory because of stains and cult is s erpcrienced with procurement of &inch cans and caps. sulted in 8 lower r a t i o of 8-inch t o 4-inch production than was forecast. The lvlt plant m d slug recovery operated on a three shift schedule during the entire month. record high f o r melt plant production in one month. the melt plant are attributed t o a higher percentage of solid 8crrp i n the charge and t o lees crucible breakage. The production of 92 tone of billets establishes 8 Improved yields In The one 4-inch alug autochve faii ~ eresulted fran a pinhole in the veld lerdillg t o 8 sznmll unbonded area under the cap. Tcsts were conducted dura the mnth in UI attempt to isolate causes of frost test rejects. vas present on one line and a strong bond condition on the other, "cros8canning" of slugs was performed. The results of this test indicated that the tin bath contributed t o the weakening of the bond strength. By using various combinrtions of bronze and t i n baths, rejection rates ranging from 0-17s were obtained. the bronze t o the tin is causing weak bonds. During 8 period in which weak bond condition This appears t o indicate that8 carry-over from Study of this condition is I n continuation of the study of the rate of tin build up in the AlSi turning pot, rigid control of bailing times and techniques M B established for a period of one week. On the basis of results of t h i s experience it VIS found that it is desirable t o revise the sampling procedure to better establish bail- timc t o start each day's operation with a virgin pot of mi. c8n be devised which w i l l minimize AlSi consumption. From thisa two shift operating cycle I n an atteqt t o improve efficiency of operation, a study was made of the fer sibi lit y of using the base of the cap boss as an index point for the c8p frcing operation, elirninrting the fluoroscope marking and inAlsi it w18 possible t o face thirty test slugs without marking. there were no t h i n caps rad six were cut long as a result of high caps. lhis method appears t o have merit and additional work is continuing. By treating the caps so the boss is not wet by A cast iron canning sleeve, machined t o required dimensions for 4-inch material, was evaluated along with (L standard s t e e l control sleeve. Dimensional stability of the cast iron sleeve appeared far superior t o the steel and consequently appears t o have much longer useful life. Based on these results, 300 cast iron sleeves have been ordered for more extensive evalust ion.

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Metal Reparation Seetion goad ami them wre mya light ruia tian r r= aU F.diogrrghy tert of the weldad end. of cuwd rlugs yu a0lrplat.d during the Pronth. Bud on der tr wt ive teat8 of thore 0.59 of the tokl piece8 ndiogrsphed rbould have been rejected f o r p 8 8 toida in the aut clorure. It appear8 that improwd quality wuld nrult U thir technique could be applied t o normal production, u prerently undetected voids could then be round md ellmlmted before pile eq or ure. The rurface quality WM lbchining produetion vu 9$ below forecrrt as a result of insuificient rod n uei ptr. ~ U r tproduction VU 2% ibove r or mut u arc rdt or improved Cann hg production waa lol$ o r rorecrot aa re rul t of improved ApproxImatrly 5$ of totrl e- produotion tlme wu lost ma a four &ye production vu lort on the salt bath oparrtion becaure of r.iiue or the Silt bath wta tor. 2. Inmeutiona, Ilrirrtenraae md Replrounents 'hnk. mod in prepamtion of cam, capr and rleever were relocated t o g%vertrriqsrt line ilw or canrponantr being procerred. 'Ihis r e - -ament is up ec ted to hprove operating efficiency aad re rul t in more tho- claaaing. Tbir tert h u been completed with 20,000 b i n d and 18,600 8-inch slugs cIILLIcd t o date. A emrll number remain to par final inspection.

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PT-313-105-7ld "Irrrdiation of Alpha Canned Ur r niu m Slugs from Rods canning vu done on th io test during the mnth, however completion of the c.arrfigis expected early nert mnth, Rocass Testa and Revisiono Ea chaa&e in statu since December report. Znvcntione and Discoveries Personnel in the Metal Repar&ion Section eqaged in work which might be expected t o result in invention6 or discoveries advise that t o the best of their knowltdge md belief, no inventions or discoverles were mde in the course of their work dura the period covered by this report. D. Events Irzfluencing Coets Nothing e ign if i cmt. mthing signif icrnt. Ro J ect CA-394 - Outside Facilities and Utilities for Laboratory Area. AU underground lines, including the retention basin waste lines have been completed md tested. rad wallsways and the completion of the security fence are being delryed becruse of inclement weather. Blacktop surfacing of roads Construction is 964 complete. the project t o the user on January 22, 1953 with three minor cxoeptions. The work remaining t o be done by others includes the t l e - i n t o the …