The objective of this report is to review the performance of the Redox air-filtration facilities and to present recommendations, resulting from this survey, which could improve the ventilation systems of future Separations Plants. 4 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.

Since the issuance of HW-17398, Separations Section Operating Standards - Part I relating to the Bismuth Phosphate Process on March 1, 1951, several changes in the process have been found desirable and have been reduced to practice. This document presents these changes.

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Plutonium turnings formed in the machining operation are processed by recycling them to the reduction operation. The turnings are here combined in the radiation charge to form a button with the plutonium from the reduction of the fluoride. Occasionally an inventory of turning will accumulate, especially when a number of machined pieces are recycled to be recast. Since the amount of turnings to plutonium in plutonium fluoride considered safe for reduction is a maximum ratio of 1.35, a high turnings inventory can only be expended at a limited rate. Briquetting offers a convenient way of depleting the turnings inventory in a rapid manner. A total of twenty-four briquettes were pressed. Eight castings were made by casting three briquettes into a form suitable for further processing. Six of the eight castings were accepted at final inspection. One was too small to machine due to an interrupted heating cycle and the other was recast after two coating failures with subsequent stripping caused the piece to be out of specifications in size. Castings made from briquettes were comparable with those made from buttons in parity, homogeneity of the alloy, and lack of voids. Skulls from the casting of briquettes varied form 10 to …

This document details activities of the Chemical Development group of the Separations Technology Division during the month of December 1952.

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This document contains information about the radiological result of a hypothetical explosion of one of the Hanford Production Reactors. Three aspects are discussed: 1. The effect of the radiation emitted from the explosion; 2. The contamination of the river and its aquatic life as a result of the fall out from the explosion; 3. The hazard which would result from humans eating contaminated fish.

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The single-operation alpha counter, designed primarily for counting low-level alpha samples prepared by plating activity onto metal cylinders, was evaluated as a possible replacement for the parallel-plate counters now used to count activity plated on disks. Each cylinder is closed at one end, so that all activity plated on it is on an outside surface which faces the sensitive volume of the chamber, and the total activity of the plate can be determined by a single count. Each side of the disk must be counted separately in the parallel-plate counter, and the edge may be counted twice. Results from about 300 cylinders and 300 disks ranging in activity from 0 to 80 counts per minute were compared. The single-operation counter was found to be capable of giving results at least as good as those obtained with the parallel-plate counter and in half the counting time. The following changes were suggested in the final model of the instrument: (1) redesign of the chamber for more effective decontamination, (2) design of a tool to be used for inserting and removing cylinders, (3) addition of a pressure gauge to the chamber, and (4) an improvement in the method of sealing the chamber to …

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Ducks, geese, coots, and other wild birds, both migratory and resident, have been swimming on the Redox waste water pond and eating the herbage and mud on the bottom. The pond is caused by the discharge of five to ten million gallons of water a day from the heating and cooling coils of reactor vessels in the Redox plant. At least twice in recent months leaks in the coils have permitted solutions of radioactive material to escape to the swamp. Once the leak was in the waste concentrator tank and once in the first oxidation tank, so that the material in the swamp would include significant amounts of every radioisotope found in irradiated uranium, including plutonium and all fission products. This paper discusses the hazards to humans from handling or eating wildfowl and to risk of both internal and external exposure.

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S>Standard needle bearinge were tested dry and with NaK lubrication at 800 deg F with an oscillating motion up to 5 deg and found satisfactory. (T. R.H.)

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Physicsl Metsllurgy of Reactor Materials. Mechanical properties of a series of Th--C alloys ranging in C content from 0.02 to 0.22% wcre determined. The effect of quenching temperature on the hardness of pure Th was investigated. The effcct of aging temperature on the hardness of Th-- Cr alloys was determined. The effect of quenching temperature on the hardness of Th--Cr--C alloys is given. Data are given on the mechanical properties of Ames Th. The effect of cold work on the recrystallization of Th is described. Reactor Component Fabrication. A picture frame method of Zr cladding of U is described. A method of sealing the sheared edge of Zr clad U plate by edge welding is presented. Zirconium cladding of Th is described. Fundamental Physico-Metallurgical Research. A tentative phase diagram of the Ag--Zr system is prescnted. The preparation of In -- Zr alloys by arc-melting methods is described. (W.L.H.)

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A manual for supervisory personnel to aid in formulating detailed instructions for operators and foremen employed in a green salt plant is given. A description of the processsteps in plant operation is contained. (C.J.G.)

The object of the work described in this report was to adapt the laboratory procedures for precipitating and hydrofluorinating plutonium (IV) oxalate to plant equipment on 160 and 350 gram scale. This adaptation was done by making minor process changes in concentration, digestion time, rate of chemical addition, etc.

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