Acidic dissolution behavior of U containing ZrO2–MgO ceramics

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Annals of Nuclear Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2011.07.034· OSTI ID:1033264

Holliday, Kiel; Smith, Nicholas; Hartmann, Thomas; Cerefice, Gary; Czerwinski, Ken

This study explores the possibility of dissolving zirconia-magnesia inert matrix fuel containing uranium oxide as a fissile material and plutonium homolog and erbium oxide as a burnable poison with nitric and sulfuric acid as a potential first step in a reprocessing scheme. The progress of the dissolution is followed by monitoring the amount of material in solution by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, assessing the speciation of the material by time resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy, and determining and quantifying the crystalline phases present in the remaining residue by X-ray diffraction. This study has shown a linear incongruent dissolution of the cubic zirconia phase in concentrated nitric acid under certain chemical compositions, while the magnesium oxide phase is completely soluble. In sulfuric acid uranium, erbium, and magnesium are soluble to different extents while zirconium forms a colloidal suspension that conglomerates and settles out of solution. The feasibility of the dissolution of zirconia-magnesia inert matrix fuel with nitric and sulfuric acid for reprocessing is discussed.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1033264
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-11-24447; ANENDJ; TRN: US1200317
• Journal Information: Annals of Nuclear Energy, Vol. 38, Issue 11; ISSN 0306-4549
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
BURNABLE POISONS
CERAMICS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DISSOLUTION
EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY
ERBIUM
ERBIUM OXIDES
FISSILE MATERIALS
FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY
LASERS
MAGNESIUM
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
MONITORING
NITRIC ACID
PLUTONIUM
REPROCESSING
RESIDUES
SULFURIC ACID
URANIUM
URANIUM OXIDES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ZIRCONIUM
dissolution
fuel
inert matrix
uranium
zirconia