Comparing the corrosion of uranium nitride and uranium dioxide surfaces with H2O2

Eleanor Lawrence Bright; Sophie Rennie; Angus Siberry; Keivan Samani; Kasia Clarke; D. T. Goddard; Ross Springell

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.03.006

Comparing the corrosion of uranium nitride and uranium dioxide surfaces with H₂O₂

Eleanor Lawrence Bright^*
, Sophie Rennie
, Angus Siberry
, Keivan Samani
, Kasia Clarke
, D. T. Goddard
, Ross Springell

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

212 Downloads (Pure)

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 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 .

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	202-207
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume	518
Early online date	9 Mar 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.03.006
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2019

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Accepted author manuscript, 1.55 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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@article{c28fe5478825403cbfb09ac0c6b260aa,

title = "Comparing the corrosion of uranium nitride and uranium dioxide surfaces with H2O2",

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 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 {\AA}ngstrom 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) {\AA}/s, respectively, showing that UN corrodes more slowly than UO 2 in 0.1 M H 2 O 2 . ",

author = "\{Lawrence Bright\}, Eleanor and Sophie Rennie and Angus Siberry and Keivan Samani and Kasia Clarke and Goddard, \{D. T.\} and Ross Springell",

year = "2019",

month = may,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.03.006",

language = "English",

volume = "518",

pages = "202--207",

journal = "Journal of Nuclear Materials",

issn = "0022-3115",

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}

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 - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85062867809

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 -

Comparing the corrosion of uranium nitride and uranium dioxide surfaces with H₂O₂

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