This document provides the monthly reports for January 1952 through December 1952. These reports detail activities in the 100 areas during this time period. (FI)

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In 1946, it was recommended, by the district engineer for the War Department, United States Engineer Office, that it was desirable to transfer all of the functions of production to Hanford, a production installation; thereby relieving the Argonne National Laboratory, a research installation, from production duties. This decision was based on the belief by Argonne National Laboratories that the principal problems of production were solved, as a result of a meeting held at Clinton Laboratories, October 25, 1946, during which, Dr. T.S. Chapman discussed with Major F.A. Valente the possibility of Hanford assuming full production responsibility for the product extracted from the irradiation of Special Request. This responsibility was to include the procurement of lithium fluoride, the preparation and canning of the pellets, the irradiation of the slugs, the extraction of the product and its subsequent shipment to the consumer. This report details historical aspects of this program and the P-10 Project.

Techniqnes are presented which are applicable in machining materinls such as U, graphite, Ti, Zr, Th, Ta, Be, Bi, Li, and stellite. Included in the general considerations are factors related to machinability of the materials, operating condition of the machines, and the condition of the cutting tools. In addition, industrial hygtene and safety aspects are examined. The techniques for each material are discussed in detail, the greatest attention being focused on uranium.

Increases in power levels of the Hanford Piles have resulted in increased demands for process cooling water to the extent that the present filter plants are now operating at or above their design capacity. Further power level increases requiring even more cooling water may demand the operation of the filters considerably above design capacity. It has been proposed that by the use of aluminum sulfate, or filter alum, as a process water coagulant and activated silica as a coagulation aid, the present filter plant capacities could be increased appreciably. In order to investigate the effects of alum-treated water on pile operation, a full-pile production test was authorized in which alum was substituted for the standard ferric sulfate coagulant. This test was started in the 100-F Area on October 10, 1951. The results of the first thirty days of operation were presented in a previous report and served as a basis of the decision to proceed with installation of the activated silica addition facility. This report presents the data, results and conclusions obtained from the start of the test until its termination of December 28, 1951, when the addition of activated silica began.