Oxidative dissolution of Cr-doped UO₂ nuclear fuel.

ABSTRACT: Alternative UO₂ nuclear fuels, incorporating Cr as a dopant, are currently in use in light-water reactors. Dissolution experiments using Cr-doped UO₂, performed as a function of Cr content in a simplified groundwater solution and under oxic conditions, established that the addition of Cr to the UO₂ matrix systematically reduced the normalised dissolution rate of U at 25 and 40 °C. This effect was most notable under dilute solution conditions, and is the result of galvanic coupling between Cr and U, resulting from the presence of Cr²⁺ in the UO₂ matrix, as corroborated by activation energy determination. Under conditions of solution saturation, where schoepite ((UO₂)₈O₂(OH)₁₂·(H₂O)<

SUBMITTER: Smith H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10079487 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature