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U.S. Department of Energy
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PROCESSING OF URANIUM CARBIDE REACTOR FUELS. I. REACTION WITH WATER AND HCL

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4006980· OSTI ID:4006980
High-purity uranium monocarbide reacted with water at 80 deg C to produce a finely divided, brown U(IV) compound, and 92 nfl (STP) of gas per gram consisting of 11 vol% hydrogen, 86 vol% methane, 2 vol% ethame, and 0.6 vol% propane. At 90 deg C, the products were the same, but the reaction rate was higher. Reaction with 5.6 M HCl was slower than with water, but the gaseous products were essentially the same. In preliminary experiments at 80 deg C with UC-UC/sub 2/ mixtures containing less than 2 wt.% free carbon, the volume of gas evolved per gram of sample hydrolyzed decreased from 92 to 32 ml (STP) and the methane concentration from 86 to 14 vol% as the UC/sub 2/ concentration in the mixture increased from 0 to about 63 wt.%. An attendant increase in the hydrogen and ethane concentrations to 23 and 38 vol%, respectively, also occurred. (anth)
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-26
NSA Number:
NSA-15-026113
OSTI ID:
4006980
Report Number(s):
ORNL-3101
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English