TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparing the corrosion of uranium nitride and uranium dioxide surfaces with H2O2
AU - Lawrence Bright, Eleanor
AU - Rennie, Sophie
AU - Siberry, Angus
AU - Samani, Keivan
AU - Clarke, Kasia
AU - Goddard, D. T.
AU - Springell, Ross
PY - 2019/5/1
Y1 - 2019/5/1
N2 -
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 UO
2
, UN has a high reactivity in water, however, studies have not considered the significant effect of radiation, which is known to cause corrosion of UO
2
. This study uses 0.1 M H
2
O
2
to simulate the effects of water radiolysis in order to compare the radiolytic corrosion rates of UO
2
, UN, and U
2
N
3
thin films at room temperature. X-ray reflectivity was used to investigate the changes in film morphology as a function of H
2
O
2
exposure time, allowing changes in film thickness and roughness to be observed on the Ångstrom length-scale. Results showed significant differences between UO
2
, UN, and U
2
N
3
, with corrosion rates of 0.083(3), 0.020(4), and 0.47(8) Å/s, respectively, showing that UN corrodes more slowly than UO
2
in 0.1 M H
2
O
2
.
AB -
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 UO
2
, UN has a high reactivity in water, however, studies have not considered the significant effect of radiation, which is known to cause corrosion of UO
2
. This study uses 0.1 M H
2
O
2
to simulate the effects of water radiolysis in order to compare the radiolytic corrosion rates of UO
2
, UN, and U
2
N
3
thin films at room temperature. X-ray reflectivity was used to investigate the changes in film morphology as a function of H
2
O
2
exposure time, allowing changes in film thickness and roughness to be observed on the Ångstrom length-scale. Results showed significant differences between UO
2
, UN, and U
2
N
3
, with corrosion rates of 0.083(3), 0.020(4), and 0.47(8) Å/s, respectively, showing that UN corrodes more slowly than UO
2
in 0.1 M H
2
O
2
.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062867809&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.03.006
DO - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.03.006
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
AN - SCOPUS:85062867809
SN - 0022-3115
VL - 518
SP - 202
EP - 207
JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials
JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials
ER -