Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report May 1957

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THIS DOCUHENT HAS BEEN SCANNED AND IS STORED 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.

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Atomic Energy Commission, Hanford Operations Office, E. J. Bloch, Director, Division of Production,

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Force Report and Personnel Status Changes ............ .' . v Promotions and Transfers...................... vi Financial Operation .................... 1-1 through 1-5

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Manager, Physics and Instrument Research and Manager (Acting), Reactor and Fuels Research

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I n March and Ap9L pmgram adjustments were made and cost controls Fmposed Fn critical areas t o assure that FX 1957 expenditures on the various HLO accounts W A not exceed authorized funds. resuLts and, combined with an increase in U oca ted Plutonium Recycle Program funds, have minimized concern about budget overruns. These actions are producing the expected Assumptions i n regard t o other budgets for FY 19% were revised during the mnth, notably a decrease in the Special Nuclear Materials research and developprogram and an increase in the Reactor Development Program. budg$t sssuqtions for BLO Fndicate BP average level of personnel oi ~ 6 7d dag E 1958 VU& may be compared with Y 5 5 employee6 as of MBY 3,1957. GFsphite stored energy da*a obtalned from specinens Frradlsted at high exposure at temperatures greater graphite bars pur zi cd in the conventional fashion show that the purlfica3Fon p-Tpcess is as effective on these large sections as for standard 4 x 4" pieces. Iatlansl Carbon spechems of resin lmpregaated Fmpe-rvious graphite were shown t o be sufficiently impure in neutron absorbers to prevent the use o f t h i s material In any massive 8moupts aa 8 modellator. 600' is small and may be principaI2.y S i x length8 of KE;A s i z e and eleven lengths of B-D-F size ribless M-257 ahminum process tubes have been received on s i t e aud are being inspected. Revtous studies on cavitstion flow thmugh process tube orifices provided enough lmw-haw to -ow this technique t o be q loi ted as a novel means of flow control on special poison colunm tubes- Critical flow through the orifice of the tube provides an upper Unit on water t - put I-=&- less of the poison column lezlgth. of this technique at. Hspford. This is the first dellberste application

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Studies of lattice parameters for mwious IPR fuel elements and lattices, reported last month, has continued this month w i t h additional results being obtained by both experimental and theoretical methods. Appraisal of a new scheme f o r the use of Turco t o decontaminate rear-face equipanent of the reactors based upon short injection periods ( 5 t o 10 minutes) l n reverse flat through the res- t o the rear-cross-headers and out through the pig'&s and rear nozzles Fndicste o n l y negigible increase in the radicisotope discharge t o the river would be expected. Analytical chemical developments disclosed that A g - l l O present in the recirculating coolant system in KXR will interfere seriously with the gamma One budred percent canning yield and lOO$ acceptance on closure inspection has been obtsFned on 181 cold canned standard d3mension fuel elements canned by the point ciosure technlque. between the core and the jacket to prevent uranium-aluminum diff'usion. A st&Less steel clad, four-rod uranium fuel element has been discharged e ~ ~ pcsur eobtained t o date on a staid less clad natural uremium fuel element. These pieces have a thin nickel sweater RadlcuneWuzgy examination of the BAPO size TJ-Mg fuel elemtnt which exhibited a four mime percent expeasion on irradiation in the an explanation f o r the volume expansion. has not provided Electron microscope exadnation of replicas taken fram identical areas on uranium before and after MllR bumup of 0.07 a/o has provided infomation t o SCOW that United microstructural changes result fran the irradiation. NL==OU twius present in a particular grsin widened and coalesced, and the-% is some evidence t o show fornrstion of very mall cracks. %e Bo. 4 loop Fn the gEB f a c i l i t y was charged with standard eized M-388 jacketed slugs with c c r U ~ s i b l ersils on May 25, and the tube chamel is op rating satisfactorily wlth outlet temperatures near 200 C. A seven-rod cluster fuel element is currently being irradiated in 8 IC6 This test was scheduled for discharge at 600 MWD/T Approval has now been obtained t o continue the exposure to a A first irradiation of insulated fuel elements in a Hsnford reactor has . been successfully completed. Three cored insulrrted ruel eleppents were irradiated t o 617 MWD/T in a IW through-hole. These elements operated in a medium tauperature range wlth uremium surface temperatures of about 280 C and msimnu temperatures of about 500 C.

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and including spindles to cause flow disturbances have produced pitting effects on M-388 and 1245 jacketed fuel elements S~JEUEUto those observed in the downstream portion of reactor process tubes a t the H Reactor. This evidence mer confirms the opinion that the pitting observed on M-388 jackets sfter the recent reactor test is a result of flow anomalies and an erosion induced attack rather than a wealmess in the corrosion resistance After two months urposure at 370 C, static Jaboratory tests continue t o (5.5 W/O Hi, 0.3 Fe, 0.2 !PI>, 88 reportad last math. Phyeizs e,qerimsnts t o determine the maxhm safe enrichments of concentrated solutions in the Separstions Plants have a l s o contlnued during the month. An qr l mental progrem t o f'urnish infomation required in the desi- of a safe dissolver f o r 0.M enriched slugs has been developed in consultation e4thenginee*-iPg personnel. Exponential experinreat8 t o detennine nuclear safety Umitations for handling enriched I and E slugs have continued. A near serious incident occurred in the Cold Chemical Sed-WorlrS on May 3 88 8 re8-d.t of an excessive reection rate in the nitric acid dissolution of 0.94 percent U-235 uranium =tal scrap. ?%erewere no injuries. Principal financial loss is erpected t o be due to incanrpletc recovery of the enriched widely distributed urasium oxide particles. Some operating time will be l o s t while the building i s cleaned 'of Dissolution rates of dingot metal determfaed in the R e d o x plant confirmed labor a to ~t estsa larirrsdisted saprples hdiating" 8 50 pem-t slower rste thsn for regular lagot-type metal. A progmu is being.devel.oped t o seek means f o r Fricreasing these dissolution rates. Studies of rates for -8 trap sier of urenilpm from TBp-dilucnt t o an aqueous phase disclose the rate t o be first order with respect t o ureinium the trsPrrier through the organic boundary film. This is szralogous t o transfer fxua aqueous to TBP-diluent phase which appears t o be Umited by The rste determinFng steps is The capacity of the Purex 2-A column (a w e d pBcked column) is sensitive t o the pulse freqyncy.. semiworks studies indicate a capacity capability of four times design if operated as an mrpuleed packed column. Plant tests are recommended t o determine the performsnce with respect to decoptanrination. The apnular-typ+ pee orated plate wed 2-A colmm is pow ready for operaarea of the present CylFndricSl column and should, if proven operable, satisfy capacity increase objectives. It has over twice the cross-sectional

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Laboratory studies on the behadour of neptunium in the extraction column of the Purex process have shown that the conditions of acidity, oxidant (nitrate) and time required t o establish a distribution coefficient that wi U allow IVp t o follow U and Pu are reasonable and should not interfere with decontamlnation o r yleld of U and Pu. Studies of the behaviour of Dawex 1, X - 4 (50 t o 100 mesh) and Amberlite IRA 4-01(20 to 50 mesh) ion exchange res- under simulated process conditions show that the AmberUte has greater capacity and is more resistant exchange column have disclosed that the expansion of bwex 1, X-4 in the hydroxide ? o m in water leads to difficulties in moving the resin b the the ccrlum appearedto eliminate the difficulty. (th5 system is specified t o operate at 50' C ) in the Purex prototype system indicate that except for the downcomer connecting the extraction t o the stripping unit, no insulation will be required. mt ances of fsilures o r the 347 staFnless sted ateem suppu lines cast into concrete in the h d o x plant appear related to chloride corrosion. Pke lines were wrapped in cormgated papar and sealed with a plastic tape. Am4vsis of a samgle of the tape gave 19 weight percent chloride. A cooperative prograrm is un&r way t o ~inmlatethe corrosion condition found t o the end that RadiograpbAc Testing can calibrate an eddy cument tester to exaa3ne all o r the steam lines in the Redox plant., Scale-up u n i t studies on the wring bed anion -tion of the water stream at the top of Studies on heat loss Icveetigation of titanium 8sam crt e = lal of construction was extended t o 30 percent HaOH solrrtion resulted in scnne pitting with equfvalent uniform corrosion r a t e s of greater than 2 mils/manta. Jacket remLlval conditions, UNH t o UO cslciner units. A s-le nitric acid scrubber appears to. be por;ent& suitable farmwlng 97 percent of the entrained oxide. !Fix FLurex process studies have l e d to f'urthei slmplliicstians of the multiple trench cell desi@ as well as definition of anowe acidity Aumonium fluoride dissolution of zirconium was extended to alloys of a fine black solid identified as EE4UF5. Lean alloys (10 percent Zr) dissolved only partially.

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Hilo as would prevail in &jacketing asd dissolution of zirconh~~-cladfuel el&ts resulted in corrosion rates as large as 7 mils/month. that the conditions were more rigorous than warld prevaFl under plant operaIt is believed Waste disposal studies Included exploration of a method f o r sealing a soil stmcture with calcium silicate by the injection of calcium chloride followed by scdzum silicate which has possfble application for making waste retention Gelation studies on synthetic zeolites (sodium alumino silicates) advanced t o s m a U scale field type tests wherein a bed of. the zeolite was placed between txo layers of soil. th2 volume of the gel by one-third. Absorption of the water by the s o i l reduced The scope pFeparstion for the experimeotal reactor (HIPB) is est bated to various o+- criteria packages will be issued soon. Tht Building and Semdces criterier are -shed, and Apalysi~of data obtained in the physical Canstants T e s t Reactor on the 7" l a t t i c e for the recycle reactor continued and crperimcntal work on the Examination of two tubular uranium did & fuel elements irrsdiated in the MCR confinned prevtous observations by showing radiocrackfng and a tub- crack at the adlabatic rsdius o f the cross gection which was 1.44" diemeter witha 0.4 inch central hole. A mvel method of etching ceraauics has been developed,. Awire gauze contacting 'the cathode 02 an ion bonbedment device is placed on t h e specimen; sput-kring produces a candaacting =tal film on the ceramic surface and this makes ion bosdbardment etching possible. A dummy, rull-sfze, 19-rod PRPR fuel element is aperating in a vertical f l o w loop at 300 c a;ld prototypicsl am. w/o plutonium slloy capsules began irradiation testing In the MCR on May 13, of plutonium atam and one capsule of each iuel material will be irradiated t o 5096 bumup of the plutanilpn atoms. A mazhm core temperature for these capsules of 340 C v88 calculated f o r a specific power genestian three times the average specific power generation erpected for sid lar elements operating One capsule of each fuel material w i l l be irradiated to 25s burnup

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Radioiodine in thyroids of rodents did not chaage markedly during the month and showed some increase at celctain loc at iam when c-d t o values obtained one year ago. one month ago. presmably due t o the shutdown o f Igp opemtions. fission products In &bits were about the same as Fission pnducts transferred t o waterfowl at swamps decreased, River nn.lmnls generally showed a decrease in contamination durirrg the month, due prindpUy t o the spring freshet. Early results show that Cr (111) is cansiderably less toxic to fish than Cr(VI). Jwenile whitefish appear to be uaaffected by a 3 C increase above the average tampugture f o r the Columbia River f o r exjposures as long a8 one month. Long-term results on Cs1S7 buildup In rats indicate that predictions previously based on short-tenn eq erin ents were correct in support of the present permissFor s i x months, however, mql-tality Radiostmtium in milk deposited on bones of rats to the 8amc extent that rsdiost-ti- in water deposited. pgparently the calcium in laillr had no effect on the deposition of strontium. Bsdiostrantlum protein-bound in ewe's milk agpears to deposit in rat bones to the same ertent that strontium-nitrate Fn water deposits. Other work on strontium-calcium relationships in animals The prevlously reported figure f o r rsdioactive particle retention in mice of l2$ was changed to 239, based on more valid informtian of puhmary volume. Injury t o the gastrointestinal trsct was ahrrpn to b; more severe following whole-body irradiation than following oply gut irradiation, using similar doses. It waa found that froan about 0ne-ha.U t o one -on r seem to serve very nicely to preserve amstauical specimens for irrtrulh study. Tbi ~has some advem-s over conventional procedures in that origlnal coloration seem8 t o A breaktbrougb in RBE murs-ts was made during the m n t h by observing that previopcr difficulties h v e been due, in large m, to iron contsmination in plathum being used f o r holding polonium, and not the P s obtsined frun work- Recent work on the Srnrshlne Project shoved t h a t the radiostrontiumcalcium r s t i o in plants is higher in areas of %he -where the calcium content of soil is lowest. an increased hazard in these low calcium &mas. This carries the assumption that the caLcium conten%8of all pla at sam simllar and are independent of It is being presumed by mmy that this indicates

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the calcium concentration of the soil. just shown that the calcium concentration in plants can be made t o vary oYer a considerable range, and is indeed a function of the concentration of the calclum in the soil. Further work t o confirm this impOrtSnt result is in Local measurements, however, have TECHNICAL AND (rrBw SERVICES One csae of plutonium deposition, less tban 1s q l …