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arXiv · 1810.12156

Comparing the Corrosion of Uranium Nitride and Uranium Dioxide Surfaces with H2O2

E. Lawrence Bright·S. Rennie·A. Siberry·K. Samani·K. Clarke·D. T. Goddard·R. Springell
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Abstract

Uranium mononitride, UN, is considered a potential accident tolerant fuel due to its high uranium density, high thermal conductivity, and high melting point. Compared with the relatively inert UO2, UN has a high reactivity in water, however, studies have not considered the significant effect of radiation, which is known to cause corrosion of UO2. This study uses 0.1 M H2O2 to simulate the effects of water radiolysis in order to compare the radiolytic corrosion rates of UO2, UN, and U2N3 thin films at room temperature. X-ray reflectivity was used to investigate the changes in film morphology as a function of H2O2 exposure time, allowing changes in film thickness and roughness to be observed on the Angstrom length-scale. Results showed significant differences between UO2, UN, and U2N3, with corrosion rates of 0.083(3), 0.020(4), and 0.47(8) A/s, respectively, showing that UN corrodes more slowly than UO2 in 0.1 M H2O2.

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E. Lawrence Bright, S. Rennie, A. Siberry, K. Samani, K. Clarke, D. T. Goddard, R. Springell. 2018-10-29. Comparing the Corrosion of Uranium Nitride and Uranium Dioxide Surfaces with H2O2. https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.12156

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