A Gas Chromatographic Study on the Kinetics of Uranium Oxidation in Moist Environments

Reactions of plutonium dioxide with water and oxygen-hydrogen mixtures: Mechanisms for corrosion of uranium and plutonium

“…This behavior is confhmed by results from McD.~aker et aI. in Figure 3 by results of Oz-spiking experiments described by Kondo et al [22], and by experimental observations described of this study.…”

“…A similar mechanism proposed by Kondo et aI. [22] also attributes moisture-enhancement to fracture of the protective oxide layer by stresses associated with hydride formation at the oxide-metal interface.…”

Review of oxidation rates of DOE spent nuclear fuel : Part 1 : nuclear fuel.

“…The reaction at temperatures up to 350°C produces a porous, non-adherent oxide. A laminar structure is generally observed 26,27,28 ; however a highly porous cellular structure that formed on extruded bar samples has also been reported. 27 The difference in metal microstructures of the foil and bar samples was suggested as a possible explanation for the porous oxide structures.…”

“…7,8,9,10,15,18,24,28,29,30,32,33,34,36,40,45 Small amounts of moisture in oxygen (i.e., water vapor) significantly increase the reaction rate of uranium relative to dry oxygen. There are three regions of behavior: (a) at low relative humidity (<1-2%RH), the reaction rate strongly increases with increasing water vapor, (b) at intermediate relative humidity (2-90%RH), the reaction rate is essentially independent of vapor pressure and oxygen pressure for oxygen pressure above 1.33 kPa, and (c) at high relative humidity (>90%RH), the reaction rate increases as the one-fifth power of the vapor pressure increases (p 1/5 ), but this weak pressure dependence is lost in the data scatter.…”

“…Comparisons between metal loss rate determined by weight and by hydrogen gas measurements generally show that less than stoichiometric hydrogen is produced. Uranium hydride has been reported as a product of the uranium metal reaction with water 6,7,16,33,67,76 and with water vapor 6,7,16,28,33,76,77,78,79 to account for this difference. The mechanism for uranium hydride formation is complex and not well understood.…”