U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Report on waterproofing of UN studies
Abstract
Fuels with high uranium densities have been considered in the Nuclear Technology Research and Development program’s Advanced Fuels Campaign as potential replacements for uranium(IV) oxide in commercial light water reactors. One such candidate fuel is uranium mononitride, UN, which has been observed to readily oxidize in steam and simulated pressurized water reactor conditions. Thus, it is important to examine methods for waterproofing UN, especially for potential cladding breach scenarios. This can be achieved by controlling the microstructure so as to prevent contact between the UN fuel and coolant. Research highlighted in this L2 milestone has focused on screening potential candidate additive materials to control UN microstructure using steam oxidation TGA. From these candidates, silicon (Si), chromium (Cr), and silicon carbide (SiC) were selected based on corrosion resistance, which led to attempts to develop a method for compositing these materials with UN. Powders of these materials were mixed with UN, pressed, and sintered. UN-metal composite sintering was attempted through liquid-phase sintering at temperatures above the melting point of the respective metals, while the UN-SiC composite sintering was attempted using two-step sintering at 2100 and 2050 °C. Results of silicon and silicon carbide appeared to show chemical interaction with UN to formmore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1565797
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-19-28422-Rev.1
- DOE Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Technical Report
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- Uranium Mononitride; Waterproofing
Citation Formats
Shivprasad, Aditya Prahlad, Telles, Amber Celeste, and White, Joshua Taylor. Report on waterproofing of UN studies. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.2172/1565797.
Shivprasad, Aditya Prahlad, Telles, Amber Celeste, & White, Joshua Taylor. Report on waterproofing of UN studies. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1565797
Shivprasad, Aditya Prahlad, Telles, Amber Celeste, and White, Joshua Taylor. 2019.
"Report on waterproofing of UN studies". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1565797. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1565797.
@article{osti_1565797,
title = {Report on waterproofing of UN studies},
author = {Shivprasad, Aditya Prahlad and Telles, Amber Celeste and White, Joshua Taylor},
abstractNote = {Fuels with high uranium densities have been considered in the Nuclear Technology Research and Development program’s Advanced Fuels Campaign as potential replacements for uranium(IV) oxide in commercial light water reactors. One such candidate fuel is uranium mononitride, UN, which has been observed to readily oxidize in steam and simulated pressurized water reactor conditions. Thus, it is important to examine methods for waterproofing UN, especially for potential cladding breach scenarios. This can be achieved by controlling the microstructure so as to prevent contact between the UN fuel and coolant. Research highlighted in this L2 milestone has focused on screening potential candidate additive materials to control UN microstructure using steam oxidation TGA. From these candidates, silicon (Si), chromium (Cr), and silicon carbide (SiC) were selected based on corrosion resistance, which led to attempts to develop a method for compositing these materials with UN. Powders of these materials were mixed with UN, pressed, and sintered. UN-metal composite sintering was attempted through liquid-phase sintering at temperatures above the melting point of the respective metals, while the UN-SiC composite sintering was attempted using two-step sintering at 2100 and 2050 °C. Results of silicon and silicon carbide appeared to show chemical interaction with UN to form uranium silicides, while chromium was found to significantly volatilize near the melting point of chromium. No indication of densification was observed. These observations, along with those of the preceding, related L3 milestone (NTRD-M3FT-19LA020201024) were used to develop a better understanding of microstructure control to advance efforts for UN waterproofing.},
doi = {10.2172/1565797},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1565797},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Thu Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}