This report for June 1958, from the Chemical Processing Department at HAPO, discusses the following: Production operation; Purex and Redox operation; Finished products operation; maintenance; Financial operations; facilities engineering; research; and employee relations.

This document presents a summary of work and progress at the Hanford Engineer Works for June 1953. The report is divided into sections by department. A plant wide general summary is included at the beginning of the report, after which the departmental summaries begin. The Manufacturing Department reports plant statistics, and summaries for the Metal Preparation, Reactor and Separation sections. The Engineering Department`s section summaries work the Technical, Design, and Project Sections. Costs for the various departments are presented in the Financial Department`s summary. The Medical, Radiological Sciences, Utilities and General Services, Employee and Public Relations, and Community Real Estate and Services departments have sections presenting their monthly statistics, work, progress, and summaries.

In this paper experiments a r e reported on annihilation and scattering of antiprotons in H{sub 2}O , D{sub 2}O, and O{sub 2}. From the data measured i t i s possible to obtain an antiproton-proton and a n antiproton-deuteron c r o s s section a t 457 Mev (lab). Further analysis gives the p-p and p-n c r o s s sections a s 104 mb for the H-p reaction c r o s s section and 113 mb for the p-n reaction c r o s s section. The respective annihilation cross sections a r e 89 and 74 mb. The Glauber correction necessary in order to pass from the p-d to the p-n c r o s s section by subtraction of the p-p c r o s s section i s unfortunately large and somewhat uncertain. The data a r e compared with the p-p and p-n c r o s s sections and with other results on p - p collisions.

This bibliography of the unclassified literature on radioactive waste treatment and disposal has been compiled from references published in the Nuclear Science Abstracts Volume 11, No. 11 (June 15, 1957), through Volume 12, No. 12 (June 30, 1958). The bibliography brings up to date a previous bibliography published as CF 57-8-138. (auth)

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Critical experiments are described, and the hazards attendant to these experiments are evaluated for a gascooled water-moderated reactor design. Shutdown control of the critical assembly is achieved by cadmium control blades and by dumping the water into a storage tank. The maximum normal rats of reactivity addition is limited to an estimated 0.04 per cent per sec for all remotely controlled operations. The system is interlocked to insure that safe operational procedures are followed, Hazard calculations are made to determine the dosage from direct radiation, fall-out, and inhalation from a radioactive cloud resulting from an accident. The exclusion area is shown to be adequate for even the maximum hypothetical accident. (auth)

The program of neutron activation analysis service at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is described. The techniques used, the limits of measurement, and the general applications of the method are discussed. (T.R.H.)

Due to extended low-temperature operation of the KAPL30 carbon steel thimble in the Materials Testing Reactor, a radiation damage evaluation was undertaken. Radiation damage in carbon steel may not be annealed under lowtemperature operating conditions. The data used in the evaluation are presented, and an extension of thimble life to 16 reactor cycles is recommended, subject to review if further low-temperature operation occurs. (D.E.B.)

Calculations are presented of the amount of mass transfer to be expected in liquid alkali metal-Ni alloy systems for two assumed diffusion mechanisms. In one, the boundary layer is assumed saturated and the transfer rate is limited by the rate of diffusion of solute into the liquid. In the other, the mass transfer rate is assumed to be limited by the diffusion rate of a component of the solid alloy to the solid surface. It is concluded tbat a more general hypothesis is needed. (T.R.H.)

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Purex and Redox plants operated satisfactorily. Pu production exceeded commitments. The continuous calciners in UO{sub 3} plant experienced difficulty, but the monthly commitment was exceeded. Capital costs for conversion of B plant to recover Cs and Ce have increased. For future processing of E metal, several 3-ton batches were dissolved in Redox. The continuous Task I prototype is being tested for startup of production facilities. Redox product solutions generally have higher waste losses than these from Purex material. The continuous anion exchange prototype will also be tested. Engineering studies were completed of two facets of Purex Phase II expansion, plant conversion to two cycles, and expansion to a rate of 25.8 tons U/day. A proposal requests authority to expand Purex to capacity factor 3.2 along with the two-cycle conversion. The Pu trifluoride process review indicated that conversion to the PuF3 process is not likely. Separations plant dissolver capacity potential for the next 5 yr was studied. (DLC)

It has been determined that the use of a poor quality uranium for cores was responsible for non-reproducibility in several series of corrosion samples. A better quality core material will be used for future studies of the effects of outgassing on the corrosion resistance of nickel-plated uranium. Tools for extrusion cladding experiments at BMI are expected to be ready for use in early August. Five nickel-plated steel tubes were internally clad with aluminum by {open_quotes}hot drawing.{close_quotes} Although diffusion zones were formed, the weak bond was parted on cooling due to the differences in the thermal expansion of aluminum and steel. Varying degrees and patterns of segregation have been found in uranium-aluminum castings which were cooled through the liquids-solidus region at different rates. Equipment changes will be made to provide a wider range of cooling rates.

Production of Pu from separations plants and output of unfabricated Pu exceeded commitments. Purex plant set a new record high for U processed. Production and shipments of UO{sub 3} met schedules. Purex solvent extraction battery performed below normal, probably because of poor solvent quality. NaOH addition to Redox coating removal waste is being reduced. A 3fold improvement in Recuplex product Al impurity was achieved by means of a specific gravity difference > 0.15 between dilute aqueous feed and extractant. Sintered, high-silica crucibles are being tested in RMA production line in Finished Products Operation. Scope design of a fission product shipping cask was completed; powder temperature should be below 440 F for 1 MCi cerium-144 + impurities. Feasibility of using one outside Purex canyon entrance (stairwell opening) for relief damper opening was tested and found to be insufficient. A drawing of the 6-inch continuous centrifuge being evaluated as a vacuum drum filter on RMA button line was reviewed. Casks were designed for the NPR project. (DLC)

Experiments are described that have been designed to measure separately annihilation and reaction cross sections for antiprotons of approximately 450 MeV on oxygen, copper, silver, and lead. A new and more luminous spectrograph has been built for this experiment. The antiproton cross sections a r e compared with total proton cross sections, and are found to be larger by a factor varying from 1.74 for oxygen to 1.39 for silver. Calculations based on the optical model give a reasonable connection between these cross sections and the 6-p and 6-n cross sections. Finally, the information available on antiproton production cross sections is collected. There are indications that a free nucleon is several times as effective as a bound one for producing antiprotons.

Report on methods for making spherical uranium particles.