The reaction of uranium in the U-O2-H2O and U-H2O systems

The reaction of uranium in dry air, moist air and oxygen free moisture has been studied thermogravimetrically over the temperature range 105-3250C and at water vapour pressures up to 100 kPa. It has been shown that in dry air the kinetics are complex and appear to result from parallel reactions involving both parabolic and linear rate laws. In oxygen free moisture, linear kinetics were obeyed and a near stoichiometric UO2 reaction product was formed. Oxygen markedly inhibited the moisture reaction at the lower temperatures in the range examined but the degree of inhibition, as shown by weight gain measurements, decreased with increasing temperature such that, at the higher temperatures, there was little difference in reaction rates. At all temperatures, the production of hydrogen was markedly inhibited by the presence of air suggesting that the principal reaction was with free oxygen. However in moist conditions the reaction rate exhibited a dependency on the water vapour pressure according to k α psup(n) where n ∼ 0.3 in air and ∼ 0.5 in oxygen free conditions. The mechanism of the oxidation reaction is discussed. (author)