ML20134F314

Insp Rept for License SNM-33 on 580818-19.No Items of Noncompliance Noted

ML20134F314
Person / Time
Site:	07000036
Issue date:	02/05/1997
From:	US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC)
To:
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ML20134F060	List: ML20134F314
References
FOIA-96-343 NUDOCS 9702070356
Download: ML20134F314 (16)

Text

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UMTED STATES ATOMIC Ehruv CoM AON COMPLIANCE INSPECTION REPORT j

1. Narne and adacss of hcenxe

2. Date of anspection Mallinckrodt Chemical Works August 18 and 19,1958 l

Saeond & Mallinck2ndt Streete

3. Type of inspation Initial St. Louis 7, Missouri 4.10 CFR Part(s) applicable l

20 and LO

5. License number (s), issue and expiration dates, scope and conditions (including acendments)

Lietase No.

Date Expiration Scope and Conditions SRM-33, as h-28-58 7-1-61 Scopes Urania enriched in the U-235 isotope, j

amended limited to that which may be used in nee rd-l anoe with the procedures specified in Item 8 below, for use in preparation of uranismi metal compounds, blanding, pelleting, vaste recovery, l

and fuel prep aration to the extent described I

in and in accordance with the pacedures in licensee's applications of May 15, June 18, l

and August 9 and 21,1956; Jan. 21, March 5, Oct. 21, 1957) and three applications dated Feb. h, hrch 1h and April 7,19583 and waste disposal in accordance with the p2weedures in the licensee's April 7, 1958 applicatism.

Conditiones #10 - Authorised place of uses The 14e=====8s plant near Banatite, Missouri, as described in the licensee's application.

1. 11 - All tramaftre of uranium enrished in I

'he U-235 imetepe are to be made in accord-

,ance, ith the procedures appawved by the w

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6. Inspection findinp (and items of noncompliance) l Luensee activities utm=4m spesial maalaar material obtained under the Meanse are I

earded out in the same fasilities wood fbr a progran insolving seures material pro-l eured under Lisemme No. 4-273k also issued to M=114=dmedt cheminal Works Both as-l tivities are eedusted in one pisut leested in Emmetite, M idstak is depoted eas3asively to nemmercial V "-- and powktiam af urumtmo easyneeds and meters.

The 11eensee plant is staffed with gealifist teenmdeel persesumi,dal.jhs majassW of3

• sa havn had previous soariamme workins with sewee sreds astes A rem anasseet l

eafety program is in effect =* the overvision of an asperiseced persen to is both am BuAnstrial RyshamLet and a Eselth Phyu6aist W thr A4pqus40.redlaMesh MA WWWiter14 defises are sum 13 & he a d in o m 6 7 M $r As esadusted$th the zoetias less et 213n todgr amtW_Me,

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7. Date of tst previous inspetten 8, is " Company Confidential ~ information contained in'this report? L Yes [M" No O e W. H e.vj.. e w f..

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UNITED STATES Atomic ENERGY COM (80N 4

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COMPLIANCE INSPECTION REPORT l;

1. Narne and adJtes> of bcensee

' 2. Date of mspection August 18 and 19, 1958 Mallinekrodt Chemical Works i

Sacond & Mallinckrodt Streets

3. Type of inspection Jnitial j

St. Ionis 7, Missouri 4.10 CFR Part(s) applicable 20 and ho

5. License number (s), issue and expiration dates, scope and conditions (including amendments)

License No.

D ate Expiration Scope and Conditions l

Sh33, as h-28-58 7-1-61 Scopes Uranian enriched in the U-235 isotope, j

amended limited to that which may be used in accord-anos with the procedures specified in Item B 4

below, for use in preparation of uranian metal compounds, blanding, pe11 sting, vaste recovery, and fuel preparation to the extent described in and in socordance with the pacedures in i

licensee's applications of May 15, June 18, and August 9 and 21,1956; Jan. 21, March 5, y

Det. 21, 1957; and three applications dated i

Feb. h, March 1h and April 7,1958; and warte j

disposal in menordanee with the paceduns in the licensee's April 7, 1958 application.

j Conditiones #10 - Authorised place of uses The j

j 11amnaaa's plant near Banatite, Missouri, as deseribed in the licensee 8s application.

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1. 11 - All transfers of uranium enrished la j

the U-235 isotope are to he made in acoord-snoe,uith the precedums approved by the j

6. Inspection findiny (and items of noncompliance)

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l W omeos activities uu14 4=" spesial umslaar material eMained under the 11eense are

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tarstad out in the amme familities used ihr a program imselving seures usterial pre.

eured under Linease No. 5-2731s also issend te p=114==kseet haai Werts. Esth me-tivities are sendested in oss plant leested la Bamstite, Itisseura,1dstak is.desoted 1

easlasively to nessesretal 7 and preemetian of ursadas esagounds and astata.

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The 11 senses plant is staffed with gnalifted toelmdsel parasumm1,dabthe audertW of s.

ihma heve had previous esperianos westing with secree grass metme Lyonalagteal safety progrom is is effect under the supervision of an experienced person ideo is both j;

am 3stestrial Ryglassist and a Esalth Fiqrussist W tusentag,, A4pque49, red $mWeaW and useitaris devises are svuilele and in operating'eaunttea 't;WU is essensted;tsith the seatine uns et 213mtader sme' j

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8. Is " Company Confidential" information contained in'this report? L Yes (sj' No 0

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Inspection findings (and items of noncompliarre) (continued)8 i

i the plant end is used on the outside of the plant gate to identify the contzelled j

gras. It appears that thorough and conscientious use of experienced consultants frtm i

Oak Ridge and Rocky Flats has been made in an effort to insure the ' nuclear safe" dasign of the plant's equipment. Operating ~ etandarda and certain procedaral guises h2ve been written but it was noted that tr.ey have not been reviewed since the in$tial 4

writing. Though the plant equirmient has been designed to minir.ise the possibility

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,~7 sf,n paccidental accumulation of a critical mass, several locations were noted is a

i t2m processes enerein mistakes could occur that might result in a criticality excursion.

2 These weaknesses are present at locations where considerable reliance is placed upon j

the actions of single individuals at certain points in the proessses where there is no adhmnal procedural checki These itemis were pointed out and discussed with top j

'pl:nt 3.wrfis$hn who stated that measures will be taken to improve tho situation.

j No spec.;fic reconsiendations were r.ede. Adequate secount. ability remrds were maintained ca a 2T.,utine basis and were rcTiewed.

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No itmas of noncompliance were observed or otherwise noted during the course of this i

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l Page 2 Mallinckrodt Chemical Works St. kuis, Missouri License No.

7 -73 DETAILS I.

GDERAL INERMATION 9.

On August 18 and 19, 1958, a compliance inspection was made of the activities conducted by Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Muis, Missouri, that utilize materials obtained under Source Material License No. C-273h and Special Nuclear Material License No. SNM-33.

l The inspected activities are confined to one plant located in Hematite, Missouri.

10. The inspection was conducted by Dr. Marvin M. Kann, Division of Inspection, Washington, D. C., and Leo Dubinski and Donald C.

i Hubbard, Inspection Division, ORDO, who, during the course of l

the visit, interviewed the fo11cwing licensee personnelt Dr. W. M. Leaders - Technical Director of Special Metals Division Dr. E. D. North

- Manager of Hematite Plant Mr. J. W. Miller - Supervisor of Industrial Hygiene Dep artment

11. The licensee currently holds two licenses that cover the Hematite plant operation--one is for source material and the other is for i

special nuclear material. The licenses have expanded as follows:

A.

License No. C-273h (1) Issued September 23,1955, for 500 pounds of U03 o be t

used in U02 reactor fuel element studies.

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(2) Amended November 9,1955, to allow transfer of U02 to other licensees.

( 3) Amended December 30,3055, to trovide for 500 pounds of U03 and 1,000 pounds of L76 to be used in the preparation of U02 for fuel element studies.

(h) Amended March 9,1956, to provide for 500 pounds of Uo3 and h,000 pounds of normal tT6 for fuel element studies.

(5) Amendea May 2h,1956, to provide for 500 pounds of U03 and 5,000 pounds of normal L76 for fuel element studies.

(6) License expired September 1,1956.

(7) ReneEed October 9,1956, to provide for processing and fuel element studies involving up to 500 pounds of U03, 100 pounds of ID, and 2,000 pounds of L76 2

(8) Amended March 19,1957, to provide for 3,100 pounds of normal uranium metal and compounds for fuel element studies, processing, and resale.

(9) Amended April 26,1957, to provide for 500 pounds of U0,

3 100 pounds of U02, and 7,000 pounds of normal UF6 (10) Amended May 2h,1957, to provide for 8,100 pounds of no.rmal uranium metal and compounds to be used for, processing, fuel element studies, and resale.

(11) Expired Nerember 1,1957.

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(12) Renewed October 31, 1957, to provide for 13,000 pounds of normal uranium metal and compounds to be used for processing, fuel element studies, and resale.

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Page 3 Mallinckrodt Chemical Works St. Louis, Missouri License No. '." -?:

(13) Amended November 22, 1957, to provide for unlimited amounts l

of normal uranium metal and compounds to be used for i

processing, fuel element studies, and resale.

(1h) Amended April IL,1958, to provide for unisanited amounts of normal uranium and thorium metals and compounds for processing, fuel element studies, research and development l

activities, and resale.

B.

License No. SNM-33

-(1) Issued July 18,1956, to provide for unlimited amounts of uranium enriched up to 7.5% to be converted to 002 using procedures set forth in the licensee's letter dated May 1h, 1956. The procedures included design information pertain-ing to plant facilities, shipping containers, criticality control, process equipment; radiological safety procedures

• and detailed process procedures.

(2) Amended August 6,1956, to provide for unlimited amounts of uraniun enriched up to 7 5% and 1.1 kg. of 20% enriched uranium. Use is according to additional procedures dated June 18, 1956.

(3) Amended August 2h,1956, to provide for unlimited amounts of enriched uranium to be used according to additional procedures dated August 9 and August 21, 1956. The pro-cedures involve essentially the same process as described in earlier correspondence but with some minor equipment and chemical flow-sheet changes.

(h) Amended February 19,1957, t.o allow the preparation of uranium oxide and uranyl sulfate from UF6 according to procedures dated January 21, 1957 The procedures de-scribe in detail the process, including criticality considerations, for enrichments ranging fnm 20% to full enrichment.

(5) Amended April 22,1957, to include procedures dated i

March 5,1957, which consisted of changes in transpor-tation arrangements and design of shipping containers.

(6) Amended October 2fi.1957, to include procedures dated October 21, 1957, that set forth a mode of operation used for the conversion of UF6 to 002 at assays between 3 add 5% enrichment.

5 (7) Amended March 3,1958, to include the preparation of uranium metals and compounds, blending operations and waste recovery as described in three pmcedure supple-ments dated February h,195c. The precedures cover equipment and techniques used to produce uranium metal of any enrichment and blended batches of UO2 up to 55 enrichment. Also described were two facilities used for solvent extraction recovery of uranium from scrap material. One facility is designed to handle scrap up to 55 enrichment while the other is designed to process scrap containing from 5% upward to highly enriched uranium.

(8) Amended April 28,1958, to include pelleting, additional

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fuel preparation and waste disposal procedures as described in licensee procedures dated March ih and April 7,1958.

The March 1h procedure incorporates by reference three applications dated February 20,1958, and one dated February 25,1958. The amendment approved a U02 pelleting process and facility, an all-assay U02 pmduction facility, g

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i Mallinekrodt Cher.ical ',:orks St.14uis, Mirrouri License No.

e processes for producing uranyl nitrate and uranyl fluorid+

(crystals and solution), and shipping containers for the UO F2 2 and UD2(H0 )2 3

1

12. In adaition to the source material activities conducted at the Hematite plant by the Special Metals Division, the licensee also l

carries on two additional source material nrograms. One program, conducted by the Sales Group under Source Material License No.

D-217, is a nonprocessing type activity limited to 900 pounds of source material for resale and use as an analytical reagent. The other progra involves the processing of euxenite ore for the l

Government Services Administration under that agency's Source Material License No. D-195. This process is conducted by the j

Operations Group in one of the licensee's buildings located in St. Iouis. Uranium obtained from the ore is sold to the Commis-sion's Weldon Spring, Missouri, Feed Katerials Plant, while the thorium residues are stored at the Army's Granite City Engineer Depot in Granite City, Illinois.

13 One additional special nuclear material license has been issued to the licensee for research purposes to develop a process for producing UFh by a direct conversion from UF6 All development work for this process will be done at the Hematite plant if the research efforts are pursued.

Ib. The details of this report cover only the activities conducted under License Nos. C-273b and SKM-33.

II. LICENSEE BACKGROUND

15. The Mallinckndt Chemical Works was one of the first companies to commercially produce uranium and uranium compounds and has been continuously engaged in the field since 19k2. The company is a prime contractor of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission and currently operates the Commission's urmium refinery plant at Weldon Spring, Missouri, and fomerly operated a similar plant on Destrehan Street in St. Iouis, Missouri.

1 III. ORGANIZATION

16. The licensee is a stockholder company organized so as to have seven major operating groups as shown in Exhibit A.

The Uranium Divisian of the ecmpany is the grcup respen:ible f::r the ;cntreet operation of Commission-owned facilities in Veldon Snring in which refined uraniun oxides, uranium tetrafluoride and uranium metal are produced; Following the 195h amendment to the Atomic Energy Act, which was designed to enecurage private business participatien in the etcmi:

energy field, the licensee created the Special etels Divizien to further the company's private commercial efforto.

17. The Special Metals Division was formed on January 1,1956, and placed under the management of Mr. Frederick M. Belmore who holds a B. S. degree in chemistry and a B.S.E. degree in chemical en-gineering. Mr. Belmore was employed in various capacities by the Manhattan Engineer District and the Atomic Energy Commission from 19h3 until 195h. The last Commission position held by Mr. Belmore I

was that of Deputy Director of the New York Operations Office.

l In addition to being Manager of the Special Metals Division, Mr.

Belmore is aim Special Assistant to the President of the company, Mr. Fistere, and the Special Metals Division reports directly to Mr. Fistere. Dr. W. M. Leaders, Technical Director of the di-r vision, is also the Technical Assistant to Mr..Belmore, while the Hematite plant operation responsibility is assigned, to,Dr. R. W.

Shearer who reports.dkeetly to Mr..Belmore. Dr. Shearer is

Face f Mallinckredt Chemical Ucro St. lttis3 ?.is sn.

License No.

assisted by the Plant Manager, Dr. E. D. North, and Dr. G. W.

Thompkins who directs research and cevelopment efforts at the Hematite p. ant (see Exhibit B).

18.

A.

The plant operating force consists of approximately 25 persons working under the supervision of the Plant Manager, Dr. North. Reporting to Dr. North directly +re two Process Enrineers,who act in staff capacity, and a General Foreman.

Other supervision includes the three Assistant Foremen, cne to a shift, who report to the Gereral Foreman. In the absence of the Plant Manager and the General Foreman, the Shift Fere-rnan is the senior and responsible supervisor of operations.

In addition to the operating personnel there are several other persons such as mechanics, porters, and guards who also report to Dr. North.

The Process Engineers are both graduate chemical engineers who normally work day shift but often verk around the clock if a situation arises that requires non-routine hours. Re.

search and development pecple htve on occasions in the past acted as relief for the Process Engineers. The Proces.s En-gineers' majer responsibilities are to check on personnel to deternine if written procedures and standards are being complied with and to review each morning all process reports that were completed on the night shifts. Both men have read Ice Alamos and Oak Ridge criticality data reports and have copies available for their use but they are not regarded as criticality experts.

No technical training is required for any cf the foremen or crerators and generally speaking the foremen are old-time employees who have ecme up through the chemical operator ranks.

Operators start as trainees and pregress through B and A op-erator grades, then utility operater with the next promotion being to that of Assistant Foreman.

B.

The plant has a mall analytical laboratcry, empleying five persons, that is maintained and operated by the operating organization. The resecrch and development laboratory, a separate rreup, is staffed by neveral technical perser.s and tecnnicians f rem sne i.esetrcn and levelcpment crganisat;en of the Special Metals Division who are not respensitle to the Plant Manager but report instead to Dr. Shearer threugh Dr.

Thompkins; C.

It appears thet cperating pers:nnel have been selectsd vith care and that all surervisera and seni:r coersters have ma experience in normal uranium processing. Experience in pm-cessing of enriched uranium prict to initiatien of the Hematite operation, hcwever, is confined to Dr. Leaders, Technical Assistant to the Manager of the Special Metals Division.

IV. FACILITES

19. The Hematite facility is located en a 150 acre tract cf land approximately ho miles south of St. Louis near the town of Hematite and is bound on the north by a public road, en the south by Joachim Creek, and on the east and west by other private property. The l

plant is centrally located on the 150 acres and the nearest oc-cupied area is a farm house located several hundred yards away.

The production area consists of one. main building which, including office space and utility areas, contains approximately 16,000 sq. ft.

Pare &

Mallinckrodt Chemical 1 orks St. Louis, Missouri License No.

- i^

On the east side of the main building is the incoming storage and blending building while on the west side is the outgoing storage buildinc. The entire plant area is surrounded by a fence and the gate is manned by guards twenty-four hours a day. A new build-ing duplicating the main building in size is now under construe-tion outside of the fence. When completed, the building will be occupied by both the research and development and operating groups.

The fence will be enlarged in the futu-e to include the new building.

20. The main building consists of three sepcrate processing areas that are separated so that materials of various enrichments may be manufactured simultaneously.

A.

Area number one is designed to handle materials of high en-richment, that is 20% U-235 and high.r. The room houses a general products line crimarily used for high-fired uranium dioxide for cermet type fuel elements and a process line for the manufacture of metal. Operating in conjunction with the high assay production unit are two auxiliary areas, one con-taining special equiument used for the solvent extraction of highly enriched uranium fmm scrap material while the other, a soluble products area, is used fer the preparation of crystals er solutions of uranyl nitrate, uranyl sulfate, and uranyl fluoride.

B.

The second area is fer Isrge scale production of low enrich-ment materials that ranre up to 55 enrichment in U-235. The main product is ceramic gra::e uranium dioxide. The equipment in this area, like that in area number one, is also housed in special hoods fer dust control and consists of standard chemical plant equipment--tanks, pumps, filter processes, resistance dryers, resistance furnace, etc.

C.

The third processing area is actually divided into three sections. One section contains equipment for solvent extrac-tion of low enrichment uranium frem scrap, while another is for the manuf acture of niddle enrichment (5 - 20% U-235) uranium compounds. The third section c ntains the research and development activities and a pilot plant for pre: sing and firing ceramic pellets of U0. The pelleting line equi-2 nent c n h used f:r &1l assays :f n;aniu-and while :cid k have been initially installed primarily for quality control purposes in manufacturing ceramic grade oxide, it is also used for the production of high density 002 pellets for direct loading into fuel elements.

21. One incoming material rterare velt is a ene-stery reinforced cencrete buil:ing (~3m x 15i) eq ipped with a cen: rete floor and is located approximately 50 feet to the east of the main building. The room is equipped with chains and brackets that are fastened to the wall and used to secum shipping containers. All shipping centainers centaining uranium of the same degree of en-richment are chained together. Vault responsibility lies primarily with the pmcess engineers who arc assisted by the foremen.

22. The blending building is a single remr. contained in a conente block building (20' x 50') located cirectly south of and adjacent to the inccming storage vault. Blending equipment is contained within a dust control hood and consists of ten 15-gallen open top drums mounted on a ra:k in back of a roller rail. Each drum is separated from adjacent drums by a one foot slab of concrete.

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t Page 7 Mallinckrodt Chemical Works St. Louis, Missouri

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License No.

The south end of the room is used for the storage of containers which are designed so as to give a minimum tuo foot spacing between adjacent containers.

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23. The outgoing storage vault is a small (~ 208 x 10') reinforced l

concrete building located approximately 50 feet to the west of i

the main building. The room ir equipped with racks and chains f

attached to the wall that are ued to keep containers separate l

prior to shipment.

Y-RADI0IDGICAL SAFETY PROGRAM 2h. The over-all radiological safety program of the Hematite plant is under the direct supervision of J. W. Miller, Supervisor of the Industrial Hygiene Department, who reports to Mr. J. G. Moore, Vice-President in charge of Operations. Mr. Miller holds a B.S.

degree in chemistry and has had several years' experience in the l

licensee's Uranium Division's Health Division covering similar I

normal uranium operations. He is by training both a Health Physicist and Industrial Hygienist and is responsible for all of the licensee's commercial operations, including the Hematite plant.

He is assisted by two technicians. Control of factors affecting l

criticality are not part of the radiological safety program but are handled separately by Dr. Leaders and Dr. North with Dr.

Leaders having the prime responedbility.

25. Personnel monitoring is conducted by routine use of film badges, bio-assays, and physical examinations. Film badges are obtained from St. John I-Ray Laboratory in Califon, New Jersey, and are distributed to personnel on a frequency detemined by individual job assigment. Permanent operating personnel at the Hematite plant are monitored en a weekly basis while rotating personnel-are monitored monthly. Complete individual exposure records and summaries are maintained on all employees and were reviewed. The average exposure of Hematite plant personnel during the past year, l

as indicated by the records, was 80 mrad due to beta radiation and 36 mrad due to gamma radiation. The maximum single six months accumulative exposure recorded as due to beta was 2525 mrad while the maximum due to gamma was 380 mrad. No single weekly exposure in excess of the permissible weekly exposure was noted. Film badges are worn by all persens entering the Hematite plant and are distributed and collected by the guard at the door.

Clinical and radiological urinalyses are made routinely with the frequencies determined by individual job assignment. The minimum is one analysis per year while the maximum number of routine analysis per persen is four per year. The radiological urinalyses sre per-formed by a ecmerical organization, Nuclear Service and Engineering Corporation, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This service was formerly supplied by the Tracerlab Corporation. Results are reported in disintegrations per minute per liter (~ 2h hour sample) with h6 d/m/1 established as tolerance. The maximum single exposure, as indicated by the licensee's records, was 37.h d/m/1 while the average during the past year was of the order of 5 d/m/1. Pre-employment physicals are given all employees.

Protective clothing, including shoes, are pruvided and laundered by the company in their own laundry facility. A divided change room is used by employees to prevent street clothing from being carried into areas where there is a possibility of contamination.

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l Page 8 Mallinckrodt Cnemical Yore:s St. Louis, Missouri License No.

7. - 3 1

26. The licensee's airborne radioactivity et ntrol program operates on the philosophy that a correctly designed installetion will control the material in such a manner that the material does not become a health hazard to the employee who operates the instal-lation. Thus, maximum attentien is given to adequate engineer-l ing design and to the development of standard operating procedures which will provide acceptable control. Dust studies (general and breathing zone) of individual jobs are made to determine an operator's exposure to airborne material while eerrying out his ncrmal duties. Based upon the dust studies, cher:ges are made to achieve the lowest practical exposure. Concentrations greater than the plant's maximum permissible concentration (70 a d/m/m3) during some operations may be permitted provided the weighted average for the daily job does not exceed one M.P.C.

In general, design and operation are aimed toward an upper limit of 1/10 M.F.C.

i Once a job has been evaluated, it is assumed that the expcsure of each operator on that job will be approximately the same.

2 The exposure value for that operation is then chstged to each I

person who performs the operation. A complete job history is maintained on each employee and a re-study of each operatien is made on a periodic basis to establish an up-to-date exposure value.

High urinalysis results and film badge reports also require a re-i evaluation of an operation.

Air samples have been taken on the roof of the main building with the maxirum results noted being 1 x 10-12 c/ml of air. Samples j

have not in the past been taken outside of the fence or at the l

outer edge of the property line, but plans are being developed i

L to do so in the near future.

1 l

All dusty operations are enclosed in hoods equipped with double j

i filters, and, in addition, all personnel are rirevided with f ace masks which are worn around the neck when working with a dust l

generating process even though the process is enclosed in a hood.

Complete air surveys are made of the entire plant at least twice j

l a year and some sampling is done in the riant at least one week i

out of every month; however, no full-time Health Physicist is i

assigned to the Hematite plant.

27. Area monitoring of the entire plant, using survey meters, is done at least four unes a year ferma11y and mere eften info 2 rally.

The smear technque for detecting contamination is not used.

l The results of the four formal surveys are recorded on floor pl-ns l

which are filed in Mr. Miller's office. The records available were reviewed with no significant radiation levels noted; however, it was peinted cut to Er. Miller that both his area nonitcring and air dan ling survey records were considered to be close to marginal since they did not present a complete picture of the Hematite operation. He stated that the p cgram u uld be expanded in the future in order to fill in the gaps ncted in his present records. It was also pointed out that instrument surveys are not always adequate for revealing low level alpha contamination and that since he had counting equipnent available he might want to evaluate the use of smears for that purpose.

28. Instrumentation for the radiological safety program consists of:

}

2 - Technical Associates Model No. 3 Juno (c, p, y) l 3 - Victoreen "Thyac" Model 389C Survey Meter (p, y) 4 3 - Victoreen Model 356 Survey Meter (c, p, y) 2 - Nuclear Measurements Corp. Model PC-3A Proportional 3

Counters (a, p, y)

(

8 - Portable Gast Air Samplers (1/3 H.P. motor) ew:

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i Page 9 Mallinckrodt Chemical Yorks St. Louis, Missouri License No. ^7-7

29. Most of the contaminated liquid waste generated by the licensee 8s activities consists of ammonium diuranate. These solutions a e currently treated with lime to precipitate the uranium and fluoride values then the slurry is brougnt to the boiling point to release the ammonia while the precipitate is filtered to remove the calcium fluoride and uranium contents. The filter cake is stored for future

[

processing while the filtrate which is essentially pure water is l

released to the process vaste sewer line. The ammonium fluoride solution analyses have shown the maximum uranium contents to be 50 parts per million with the average value between 5 and 25 parts per million. Ninety-nine per cent of the ammonium fluoride liquors are produced in the section of the plant that handles up to a maximum of 5% enriched uranism. Since the uranium contents are so low the licensee in the near future proposes to stop the lime treatment and transport the untreated ammonium fluoride by truck r

- to its main plant in St. Iouis where the material will be used in I

another process. This procedure has been approved by the Division of Licensing and Regulation.

Liquid effluent monitoring of the Hematite plant discharge is con-ducted at several locations on a non-routine basis using a grab l

sample technique. All process wastes are discharged due west fmm the main building through a sewer that empties into a stream running south through the licensee's property. Fmm there it nows several hundred feet then discharges into the Joachim Creek which is ret on licensee's property. Samples have been obtained from the process sewer, from process filtrate, in the stream, and at several points in Joachim Creek, both below and above the entry Effluent sampling records point of the licenseeis stream. reviewed and the highest concentration noted was 6.03 x 10yrec/ml of alpha activity which was detected in the filtrate. The highest concentration reported off the licensee's property was detected in Joachim Creek just below the licensee's' point of entry. This was detected on July 27,1957, and showed a concentration of 1.8h x 10-7 c/ml of alpha activity.

It was pointed out to Mr. Miller and Dr. Leaders that with the company's increase in production during the past year it would appear that additional and more recent efnuent information ob-tained en a mere routine basis mid be desirable fer their recert.

Mr. Miller stated that there were some additional sample results recorded but that he was unable to locate them during the visit.

He also stated that the stream on the company's property will be monitored with a continuous sampler in the near future. No figums were available as to the average volume of the plant's liquid effluent or the sverage flow of Joachim Creek.

30. Shipping containers are monitored by a Health Physicist to assure compliance with ICC regulations and all containers are posted externally with ICC type labels.

31. Regulation type posting is in use throughout the plant including each individual container of material. A color coding eystem has been ccabined with container posting which identifies the enrichment of the material in the containers.

32. As a result of the Oak Ridge (Y-12) criticality incident, the li-censee is now in the pr: cess of obtaining a radiation detection and alam system that will be installed at several points thmugh-out the plant. A systen desigred by the Radiation Counter Laboratories is currently being considered.

Page 10 Mallinckmdt Chemical Works St. Louis, Missouri License No. 7 -33

33. Radiological safety education and instruction of personnel has been conducted on a limited scale since most of the operating j

personnel now employed have worked either in the company's Uranium Division or the Euxenite Plant. Several lectures are said to have been given by Dr. North en a non-routine basis that were concerned with housekeeping items observed by him during tours thmugh the plant. Fritten instructions consist of one four-page memorandum entitled " Health Pmeedures - Hematite Plant" written by Mr. Miller and distributed to top supervision. Copies were observed costed on bulletin boards located at several prominent points within the main building.

VI. PROCESSES 3L. The main process of the plant is one whereby uranium dioxide (00 )

2 is produced from normal and enriched grade hexafluoride (UF6) thmugh an intermediate diuranate ( ADU) step. Although the scale of equipment is different depending on whether high or low enriched material is being processed, the basic flow sheets for the pro-duction of ADU type U02 are identical. Basically, the process consists of the hydrolysis of UF6 with a dilute ammonia solution to give a precipitate of ammonium diuranate which is filtered, washed, and dried. The dried powder is pyrehydrolized with steam and at the same time the ADU is converted to black oxide (U308),

which provides an intermediate that is used for preparing other uranium compounds. The Uf 8 is then reduced to UO2 with hydrogen or cracked amronia. If the 102 is to be pressed into pellets for use in fuel elements it is blended, pelleted, and sintered at high temperatures. UO2 high fired crystals and ceramic grade UO2 may also be produced following the blending step or the U02 may be converted to green salt (UFL) for use in preparing uranium metal.

Although Mallinckrodt is licensed for processing thoriu,, none has been obtained to date.

Pmeess scrap, including such items as filter bags, clean-up scrap, rejected pellets, destructive test samples, and analytical scrap, is dissolved in acid; following this the uranium values are ex-tracted in solvent then put in a pu-ified uranyl nitrate solution which can be converted to ADU. Scrap from the processes is re-covered frem the hoods, filters. and equirment and returned to the customer.

I VII. MATERIAL ACC0tTTABILITY

35.. Adequate material accountability procedures are in effect. Source and special nuclear materials are received in cylinders as UF6 which are shipped to the Heratite plant by private commer ial truck lines. Uhen the trucks arrive, the cylinders are unloaded, weighed, and stored under the supervision of the foreman who enters the num-ber and contents of each container in a log bock kept in Mr. North's office. Cylinders are renoved only wMn they are to be put into the process and are transferred according to number at the direc-y l

tion of the femman or assistant foreman. Once material from a s'

I cylinder is put into the process it is continuously being weighed and accounted for and the amounts remaining after each step are recorded on detailed process flow sheets which are reviewed each day. The flow sheets used along with the regular accountability records serve as a double entry eystem of accountability. The ultimate accountability responsibility rests with the Technical

\\

Director, Dr. Leaders, who prepares and subnits periodic reports j

to the AEC on Fom #578. Dr. Leaders is also responsible for all f

s 1

Pr{e 11 Eallinckrodt Chemical Forks St. Louis, Missouri 1,1 cense No.

-7 l

l shipments from the Hematite plant and he carefully checks all users to make certain that they are either valid licensees or else are l

ext.mpt fwm licensing.

36. The amouat of cource and enriched grade uranium processed and shipped by the licensee each year is quite large. For example, j

during 1957 the following amounts of material were handled l

A.

Sourer Material UF6 received 11,901.98 lbs.

UF6 used 11,036.75 lbs.

UF6 on hand (1-1-56) 863.23 lbs.

UD2 purchased 2,30t.76 lbs.

U02 chipped 1,2L7.f? lbs.

102 on hand (1-1-58)

Research Departnent 3h9.67 lbs.

Karehouse 6,63b.90 lbs.

Residues (U content 156.92 lbs.

unknown)

The licensee has fcund it uneconomical to completely empty the source grade UF6 cylinders, and, as a result, each cylinder re-turned to the Comiscien's Paducah, Eentucky, plant contains ap-proximately 1.5 pounds of LT6 In arrivira at tn ever-all naterial balance in the above figures the licensee chcrged themselves with the total weight of UF6 recorded in the original transfer papers though it is estimated that the returned UF6 is approximately 1/h of 1% of the amount received.

B.

Special Nucienr Material 1

(1) Received UF6 (2 3%)

1877.66 lbs.

UF6 (2.7%)

6936.66 lbr.

UF6 (1.5%)

h721.60h its.

UF6 (5.h%)

16.2h lbs.

UF6 (6.8%)

11.257 lbs.

UF6 (200 30'.216 its.

UF6 (90%)

1L9.950 lbs.

UF6 (NS-h0) 362 359 lbs.

(2) Shit"9d 10 2 (2.3%)

193h.0 lb s.

6722.63 lbs.

2 ((2.7%)

UO 2 1.5%)

2589.68 lbs.

10 16.2h lbs.

2 ((5.h%)

10 2 6.2%)

11.C3h its.

UO D02 (20%)

173.7th lbs.

10 2S0h (205) 57.571 lbs.

Uf8 (20%)

62.601 lbs.

w2 (90%)

13h.172 lbs.

10 Sob (90%)

h.70h lbs.

2 102 (Ns-Lo) 3h5.5h lbs.

UF6 (2 3%)

283 32 lbe.

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l Pare 13 Mallinckmdt Chemical Yorks St. 14uis, Missouri License No.

~ -??

the procedures and standards were undergoing review and would

. be revised to conform with experience gained during the past

[

I months.

38. Once a process is turned over to the Production Gmup, the fore-men and process engineers assume primary responsibility to Dr.

North for monitoring the process to ensure that the operations are carried out according to the developed procedures. These men are aware of the criticality limitations for each step of the f

proccas and for each piece of equipment and are responsible for seeing that the operators do not exceed them. The foremen and engineers are continuously circulating in the areas during the production and handling of source and enriched grades of uranium.

Operator pmcess flow sheets are reviewed at least once dcily to ascertain that procedures are being followed. All operators are said to have been instructed to contact the foremen or engineers t

if they are uncertain about any phase of their work or if there appears to be an unusual situation arising.

39. Material is received and shipped in approved "always safe" con-tainers that utilize the volume limitation and physical separation principles to prevent the accidental accumulation of a critical These " bird-cage" containers cre also used for storing the mass.

raw material as well as the finished product. Movement of material within the building is normally done by hand and is usually carried out within dustproof hoods that are physically divided. Foremen are said to control and direct all movements of material in order to prevent more than one container from being in motion in one area at the same time. Equipment in each of the process lines hts been so dimensioned as to be "always safe" for the intended enrichment I

of material. It appears that thorough and conscientious use of experienced consultants has been made in an effort to enture ade-quacy of design. All vessels, retorts, trays, and pipes are so sized as to enjoy a factor of safety of approximately two or greater, the factor being based on Oak Ridge and Los Alamos data.

LO. It appears that the plant equipment has been carefully designed to minimize the probability of accidental accumulation of critical masses of fissionable materials. There are, however, a number of yinte in the processee and in the laboratory activities where-in mistakes could occur and critical masses could be assembled.

The enes noted are as follows:

A.

The raw material for the several processes is UF. This ma-6 terial is received from Oak Ridge in "always safe" ccntainers

'1 for the naterial involved. The selection of appropriate con-tainers frem storage and the intruducticn of raterial to the process line usually depends upon one perscn. Records of containers and their contents are knyt in the Manager's office and the Manager's written approval is required before removal of a container from storage, but the actual removal and place-ment cf material into the process depends upen correct action by this one person. It does not appear that a precedural or analytical check exists for this operation; therefore, the introduction of highly enriched material into the processes for intermediate enrichments is possible.

B.

At several points in the pmcesses, "always safe" trays are carried by hand fmm one piece of equipment to another, and, l

in some cases, trays of enriched material are stored ten:porarily on tables. Safety in these operations is clearly dependent on proper actions by individuals.

l ll/

m,

~-

Pege Lu KallinciTedt Chemical Forks St. Louis, Missouri License No.

C.

It was observed that in connection with research end develop-ment activities, bottlee ecntaining u*anium solutions are stored temporarily on shelves without physical limitation on geometry and quantity. At the time of inspection, each of some three bottles grouped on a shelf were observed to contain more than 100 grams of Uranium 235 in solutions of greater than 20% enrichment.

After the operations had been reviewed, a conference was held with Dr. North, Flant Manager; Dr. Leaders, Iahnical Director;

[b and Fr. Miller, Industrial Hygiene Supervisor. The specific items noted above were discussed in some detail and the inspection rep-

/

resentatives pointed out that by and large the operation is con-sidered as being well designed and responsibly supervised. However, it was noted that, in the opinien of the Division of Inspection, A

re;iance upon individuals at certain points in the process presents a potential hasard and that improvement in operational safety could possibly be realized by further developnent of procedure and procedural checks. The subject of divided responsibility in f

regard to research and development activities was mentioned, par-ticularly since it had 13en observed as noted in section C ateve that certain questionable procedures were being followed by re-2 search personnel. It is the understanding of the Division of Inspection that Mallinckredt management is taking steps to improve k

the situation.

II. SUWJRY hl. The use of source and special nuclear materials in the activities conducted by Mallinckrodt Chemical Yorks at the comrany's Hematite, Missouri, plant are in accordance with the license coniitions, license gplications, and license application supplements.

h2. Plant supervision a pears to be composed of experienced and quali-fied personnel who are interested in conducting safe nuclear and radiological programs in conjunction with the licensee!s activities.

The radiological safety program under Fr. Miller's direction is furetioning effectively but additional survey and effluent monitor-ing information appears to be desirable. A more complete program cevering these peints is said to be pit =ed ^* * **~. Th?

nuclear safety program under the direction of Dr. Leaders, while adequate frcm.the equipment design point of view, does involve activities at several points in which there is reliance upon in-dividuals to carry out procedures. Any reduction in the procedures which would limit reliance on individuals would further improve the ever-all refety of the cperation. Kansrement intends to continuously review these matters and :.ac improvements there reasonably possible.

h3. It appears that MMnckrodt management, immediately related to the Hematite operation, understands fully the questions raised by the Division of Inspection and intends that the operation shall be conducted safely.

Lh. No specific recommendations are made at this time.

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