ML20133K255
| ML20133K255 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000036 |
| Issue date: | 03/05/1957 |
| From: | Belmore F MALLINCKRODT, INC. |
| To: | Johnson L US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20133G976 | List:
|
| References | |
| FOIA-96-343 NUDOCS 9701210166 | |
| Download: ML20133K255 (4) | |
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M A i.i.I N c i(it o ivr C li lail c A t. Wo lt hs nNL CHEMICAt.S F OR MF DiCIN AL, PHO tor,RAPHIC
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4 Mr, Lyall Johnson Chief, Licensing Division U. S. Atomic Energy Commission 1901 Constitution Avonne Washington 25, D. C.
Dear M:
. Johnson:
As you know, movement of uranium hexaGuoride from Oak Ridge to our plant at Hematite, Missouri, has been made by truck accompanied by technical personnel from Mallinckrodt. This is, of course, a very cumbersome, and, from our standpoint, rather unsatisfactory way to accomplish this shipment.
We have evaluated several alternate possibilities of handling UF6 and request your approval for making such shipments by use of common carrier, either motor or rail. We request approval of the use of these common carriers for the shipment of uranium hexafluoride in cylinders as unmixed, unescorted, sealed loads. In the case of the enriched UF, cylinders vill in all cases be enclosed in bird 6
cages to provide requisite separation between adjacent cylinders.
We are enclosing our blueprint no. 3226-l'which shows the details of the bird cage which we would use for the small cylinders which contain high assay UF. For lov assay material which the Commission 6
packages in larger cylindors, we would employ the bird cage shown in our enclosed print no. 3226-3.' We would in all cases specify that the load be unstacked and properly anchored to the carrier.
In the event of truck shipment, which we would expect to use gener-ally, the trucking company would be furnished a copy of specific instructions for their driver concerning action that he should take in case of emergencies enroute. These instructions vould cover such points as (1) precautions to take to prevent eurosity seekers from approaching the truck, (2) specific instructions to call shippers agent in St. Louis who would in turn notify &llinckrodt technical personnel as well as provide replacement equipment should it be necessary,and, (3) recommendations to local police as to methods of procedure until authorized technical personnel might arrive at the scene.
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9701210166 970114 PDR FOIA FLOYD96-343 PDR
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Mr. L. Johnson March 5,1957 l
We believe, that shipment as outlined above, offers alnost the same degree of safety and security as is provided in escorted shipments.
'"ne main ha::ards resulting from handling of UF6 are the poisonous nature of the hydrolysis products and in the case of the enriched material, the criticality ha::ards. Methods of packing and handling should prevent cny difficulties from these potential hazards except in the case of accident. Accidents, of course, cannot be prevented by use of a techni-cal escort. Should a cylinder be ruptured as a result of an accident, the technical escort could probably do nothing to control the release of the hydrolysis products. Should the bird cages be smashed in an accident and the truck submerged in water, a critied. accident might occur.
Again, there is little if anything a technical escort could do to correct the difficulties.
It seems to us that in general, the truck driver can provide as much protection to third parties as could a technical escort. The main precaution would seem to be to keep unauthorized people away from the scene of an accident. As a means of i
accomplishing this, we would suggest equipping the transportation com-i panies with signs for the truckers to use in addition to his regular i
equipment of flares or flags which the driver could place around a wrecked i
vehicle.
We believe that the transportation of the solid uranium products from U 0, uranyl sulfate and ammonium diuranate our plant such as UCh, UOy,ler Eazard than the transportation of UF
- 38 present a considerably smal 6
The main hazard in the case of the solid materials is that of critica-lity. We have designed two bird cages for the specific purpose of transporting solid uranium compounds. The attached blueprint no. 3226-5 is designed for highly enriched uranium compounds. Drawing no. 3226-4 shows the bird cage designed for material enriched up to approximately 3%. The smaller container utilizes the principle of "always safe geo-metry" and the larger one will only be loaded in the amount of the "always safe" quantity. The spacing provided by the bird cages will prevent adjacent containers from interaction. As in the case of the UF, we believe that these materials can be safely shipped by common 6
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carrier, motor or rail. Shipment would be made in unmixed, unescorted, sealed loads and loads would be single decked and properly anchored to the carrier. Specific instructions would be provided for use in the event of emergency as previously outlined. We also request your approval on individual single container shipments by rail express and in the case of the small bird cage shown in print no. 3226-5, we re-quest approval for single container shipments by air express or air freight unescorted.
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Mr. L. Johnson March 5,1957 We would apprecioto your early action on the problem or shipment of enriched catoriels since there seems to be some conibaion as to the role c" the Ato:nc Enerry Commission, the Bureau of Explocives, the Intera. ate Commerce Commission and the individual licensee in this matter.
Very truly yours, M./
Frederick M. Belmore Special Asst. to the President 2
FMB/ck Enclosures City of St. Louis State of Missouri Subscribed and sworn to before me this 5th day of March,1957.
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3//.f._!57 NOTICE TO PUBLIC DCCtT2NT ROOM Drawing listed below, submitted with letter of Farch 5,1057, M Ms111nokrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis, Mo, are available for inspection in the Division of Civilian Application:
Drawing No. 3226-1, 3/6/56," Withdrawal Cylinder Container" Drawing No. 3226-3, 6/4/56, " Cylinder Shipping Container" Drawing No. 3226-4, 6/6/56, " Drum Shipping Container" Drawing No. 3226-5, 3/4/57, " Product Shipping Container Export Cylinder" B
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