This document summarizes the amounts of radioactive contamination discharged to ground from chemical separations and laboratory facilities through December, 1964. Detailed data for individual disposal sites are presented on a month-to-month basis for the period of January through December, 1964. Previous publications of this series are listed in the bibliography and may be referred to for specific information on measurements and radioactivity totals prior to December, 1964. Several changes in crib nomenclature were made during 1964. These changes are noted on the individual tables so reference may be made to them in previous reports. Tables I and II list the major disposal sites in the separation facilities, total volume of waste discharged to each location, and the gross amounts of plutonium and beta particle emitters discharged to ground since startup. Tables III through XXIV present this same data on a monthly basis for cribs still in use, and also include information on the source of the waste stream and the settling facility if used. Isotopic data are included for disposal sites from which the waste was analyzed for specific contaminants. Estimates of contamination and volumes discharged to swamps are also included in Tables XXV and XXVI.

This report details activities of the Reactor and Materials Technology Department during the month of April 1965.

The power of high flux fuel assemblies and three-tube drivers planned for future operations is limited by the burnout safety factor (BOSF). In the past, the power of standard production fuel assemblies was limited almost always by one of the hydraulic limits, and in most cases the assemblies operated at powers significantly below that permitted by the BOSF limit. The burnout conditions for an ``ideal`` fuel surface have been well established in mockups at SRL and Columbia University. Little experimental data are available on nonidealities (such as local hot spots), although calculated factors are applied to the BOSF to account for certain nonidealities. Because of operation at the BOSF limit, better knowledge is needed of the effects of nonidealities and other factors on heat transfer burnout of fuel surfaces. This memorandum presents a program designed to give a better understanding of BOSF.

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McCormack and Schwendiman issued a report in 1959 which estimated the amount of fission products from fuel element failures entering the Columbia River during the period 1952--1958 inclusive. Since that time there have been no attempts made to publish similar information for the subsequent years. It is the purpose of this report to review the fuel element rupture experience of 1964 as somewhat typical of the last few years, and to estimate the amount of significant fission products which entered the Columbia River. The routine measurements of fission products both in the reactor effluent streams and in the Columbia River will be reviewed for comparison purposes.

This report discusses research at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory on topics relating to hanford production reactors. The topic deal with: reactor and material technology; reactor physics and instruments; chemistry; biology and medicine; applied mathematics; radiation protection; and test reactor and engineering services.

This is an addendum to the unclassified document entitled, ``An Evaluation of Hanford Water Treatment Practices.`` All classified data pertinent to the above document have been included here for reference. Data tables include chlorine demand (1964); chlorine contact times for reactor areas; calculation of flocculation; flow velocity in flocculation basins; overflow velocity; and particle removal efficiency; and filtration and backwash flow rates.

In the past, in-reactor testing of materials was restricted to gross sorting. It has consequently been the practice to report the exposure of a sample by relating the exposure to the heat energy released by the nearby uranium fuel, usually reported in the familiar MWD/AT (megawatt day per adjacent ton) unit. The measurement is not complicated by the kind of material, geometry factors of the samples, or loading conditions of the reactor. However, these very facts limit the usefulness of the measurement. Current materials programs require refinement beyond the gross sorting phase, and many tests are now aimed at studying the effects of trace amounts of elements upon the structural properties of materials. This type of test requires a more quantitative determination of exposure than the MWD/AT estimate can provide. Therefore, a better definition of the neutron flux in the Hanford Irradiation Facilities is required in order to facilitate analyses of irradiation experiments and to accurately predict irradiation conditions for proposed experiments. The objective of this program is to define the neutron flux at various positions of a representative number of the irradiation facilities. To date, data has been collected, reduced, and partially analyzed for two side-to-side test facilities. This …

Reactor fuels, reactor engineering, radiological engineering, process technology, and operational physics progress is reported for irradiation and testing at the Hanford production reactors.

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To determine the present flow properties of the KE downcomer and the effect of small flow increases upon the downcomer pressure characteristics.

During the week of March 1, 1965, KW Reactor shut down with indications of a tube leak. Leak testing during the shutdown indicated a front Van Stone flange leak on tube 3065 and a suspect internal leak on tube 3075. During the tube removal process, there was indication of Zircaloy embrittlement on both tubes. Subsequent metallographic examination of samples taken from these tubes indicated the presence of case hydriding on the internal tube surface extending from approximately the end of the active fuel corn to the rear Van Stone flange. Vacuum analysis of selected samples revealed the total hydrogen concentration, including the hydrogen present in the hydrided layer, ranged from approximately 50 ppm at the end of the active charge location to approximately 1300 ppm at the rear Van Stone flange, Since examination of these first two Zircaloy tubes removed from KW Reactor, two additional tubes have been removed from KW Reactor, two tubes have been removed from KE Reactor, and one C-size Zircaloy tube has been removed from C Reactor. The presence of hydriding has been observed on the seven Zircaloy-2 tubes removed to date. It is the purpose of this document to review in some detail the data …

Radioactive or contaminated wastes should be properly disposed of by methods which will assure that the potential for these materials to cause personnel exposure is minimized. This Procedure describes responsibilities and criteria for the disposal of gaseous, liquid and solid wastes from Battelle-Northwest facilities.

The specific impulse achieved in a pulsed rocket engine augmented with a fissioning nuclear bomb could be greater than that of any continuous flow engine. To a certain extent, this increase in specific impulse would be obtained at the expense of motor weight and average thrust. This paper considers the first of these limitations, motor weight, and estimates the highest effective specific impulse to be expected from a nuclear-pulsed rocket motor with respect to the weight of the motor.

This report details activities of the N-Reactor Research and Engineering Operation Department for the month of May 1965.

Alum is used as the coagulating agent in the water treatment process at Hanford. The bicarbonates present in Columbia River water react with the alum to form a loosely knit aluminum hydroxide molecule. Finely divided particulate matter and large organic molecules present in raw water are adsorbed by the floe particles. Partial is accomplished by settling in the basins; however, gravity filter beds remove the greater part of the suspension load. A polyacrylamide is added to the filter inlet stream to form a binding net around the floe particle. The floe particle is now more resistant to shearing and a greater amount of small particles are retained in the filter bed. The objective of this test was to re-capture parent isotopes of phosphorous and arsenic that had passed through the filters by secondary alum coagulation. The size and density of the floe particle would be increased by employing bentonite for the nucleus. The larger particles should now pass through the reactor with minimum residence time for activation. A polyacrylamide would again be used to net or toughen the floe particle.

Half-plant production tests have been used for many years to evaluate changes in water treatment processes. Since some conjecture existed regarding the validity of this test concept, it was decided to employ a tracer element. Bromine was chosen as the tracer element due to its absence in raw water, the short half life of its radionuclides, and its compatibility as a potable water treatment chemical. The parent production test was run for four days, but the scatter in the data indicated equilibrium had not been reached and conclusions could not be made. The test supplement was run for a period of 12 days. This report provides the test data which shows that an average cross flow of 7.6% is experienced, as measured in the reactor rear riser, when a reasonably balanced pumping system is maintained. Operating experiences at D and F Reactors during the early part of 1965 further confirm these facts. Excessive film build-up occurred in both instances on plant halves. A distinct demarkation line was experienced between vertical rows 73 and 74, as measured by front face Panellit pressure increases.

This report provides the status of production test control tube loadings in reactor process tubes containing significant amounts of SS materials.

The scope of this report covers specifications of full bridge, weldable, radiation resistant, strain-gage transducers.

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