Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing: Mechanical Phase

The major events in the mechanical phase of the Power Reactor fuels reprocessing program during June were: 1. Feasibility of shearing of fuel elements without disassembly has been demonstrated in tests using porcelain-loaded prototype fuel elements. 2. Further work with the Manco shear was not deemed tb be advisable since permission has been granted to use another shear for cutting UO{sub 2}-loaded fuel elements. 3. Necessity to strip the windows in Building 3048, to sandblast, and repaint them has seriously disrupted occupancy of the cell by July 1. Start of installation probably will not be before August 1. 4. A cold SRE element should be received during July which will permit a direct look a t the problems associated with processing of these irradiated fuel elements. 5. Concurrence with AEC, Atomics International, and ORNL people on the fabrication of a poisoned carrier was obtained and all criteria for the carrier were released and the design was completed. 6. A decision was made to install and use a 24-inch Ty-Sa-Man saw which is on hand and was originally purchased for use in the Segmenting Facility for the SRE reprocessing. This will be used instead of the multipurpose saw to allow more time to refine the design of that saw. The multipurpose saw will be installed for use in subsequent reprocessing programs. This report will chronicle the changes in status which occurred during the calendar month of June. A complete description of each item is not included and may be found in the parent report. The dates indicated on the schedule have slipped since the last report primarily due to increase in scope of the work and postponement on all phases of the work except for the SRE preparations. Twenty-four new items have been added to the schedule. The status of procurement is shown. A total of 93 purchase requests have been turned in to t% Purchasing Department. A total of $199,261.83 has been committed by purchase orders, and a total of 56 purchase orders have been received for a total value of $99,202.88. A summary of the work orders is shown. Three work orders have been added. The active work orders are for a total of $390,995 with $182,571 set aside for labor. Expenditures on these work orders through the month of May amount to a total of $231,286. Based on the cost figures available, the average man-days per day of labor expended on the project are shown. Approximately 22 design people and 29 fabrication and installation craftsmen per day were assigned to this program during the month of May. It is estimated that the effort for the month of June will be approximately the same as in the month of Mayo This figure gives an index of the effort expended on this program during the last six months