Oxycarbides having the face-centered cubic MOtype structure were formed by the controlled reduction of mixtures of PuOz and UOZ in helium and in vacuum. Carbon, UC, and U were used as reducing agents. Carbon appeared to b e necessary to stabilize the monoxide structure. The maximum oxygen content for essentially single-phase (U~.epUo.i)(OIC1-,) is x = 0.4.Oxyearbide compositions with higher oxygen contents (approaching r = 0.6) can be produced but these products are multiphase containing a p preciable quantities of a dioxide, MOz-, in carbon reduction, and M09-, plus metal in U plus UC reduction. The single-phase oxycarbides lack s m c i e n t water-corrosion resistance to b e used as fuels in water-cooled reactors ; however, their thermal conductivity appears to b e higher than that of the dioxide fuels.
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