fabrication problem, The first charging will have to. be made byrolling us techniques (nickel clad uranium in. aluminum can)5 powder notallurgy | techniques are being developed. , It is hoped. to charge: the, fifthreactor- with flat plates when it comes in, in January 1955, | 2 | rm At Hanford the ‘utilization of the available cooling water has been : improved, In addition, the water plant capacity will be increased, and more: water will be pumped through the reactors, Dr. Pittman reviewed the estimated production figures for Pu and . Pu and U-235 Production . _ U~235. These are substantiallyabove the minimum requirements of the expansion program, The expected production will be about 15 months ahead of that prescribed in the expansion program, | The field offices and contractors have been asked to study the Higher — effects of 25% and 50% increases in irradiation time. Advantages would Program be: reduced capital costs, savings in the costs of chemical processing, side ‘stream withdrawal from Oak Ridge would not be necessary, advantages would be: Dis- | decreased amount of available plutonium (ottset by SS increase in available U-~235), plutonium burn-out (6-78); effect,on,‘weapon quality, possible :increase in slug ruptures. The last ‘two poste.have. ‘not yet been evaluated, Dr. Fisk asked about waste storage and uranium recovery, at,Hanford, cg Dr. Pittman said that TBP is working, and about half‘the: uranium)‘has‘been * recovered, The amount still stored is about 255000 tons, Thevolun of fission product wastes is still a problem. the development of ferrocyanide scavenging. This may’ be encliorated by At.present about $4 million (10 million gallons) of additional tankage is being built per year. me e/T