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Preparation of stoichiometric uranium dioxide (UO2.000) via electro-reduction method in LiCl molten salt

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Abstract

A slight variation in O/U ratio usually exists in uranium dioxide, due to spontaneous oxidation in air. The conventional method to fabricate uranium dioxide by reducing triuranium octoxide in H2 atmosphere shows disadvantages in low safety and unstable quality in O/U ratio. In this paper, an effective method was proposed to fabricate stoichiometric uranium dioxide (UO2.000) powder, in which triuranium octoxide was directly electro-reduced to uranium dioxide in molten salt. The mechanism was analyzed and the quality of prepared sample was verified by XRD, Raman spectra and TG/DSC measurements.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Institute of Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics (Grant No. TP02201705) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21806152).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621907, Sichuan, China

    Yunfeng Du, Hao Tang, Lang Shao, Rui Gao, Yiming Ren, Zhen Qin, Jiaolai Jiang & Junsheng Liao

  2. Science and Technology on Surface Physics and Chemistry Laboratory, Mianyang, 621908, Sichuan, China

    Hao Tang

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  1. Yunfeng Du
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Correspondence to Hao Tang or Junsheng Liao.

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Du, Y., Tang, H., Shao, L. et al. Preparation of stoichiometric uranium dioxide (UO2.000) via electro-reduction method in LiCl molten salt. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 1601–1608 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08227-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08227-y

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