Effect of Diel Cycling Temperature, Relative Humidity, and Synthetic Route on the Surface Morphology and Hydrolysis of α-U3O8.

The speciation and morphological changes of α-U3O8 following aging under diel cycling temperature and relative humidity (RH) have been examined. This work advances the knowledge of U-oxide hydration as a result of synthetic route and environmental conditions, ultimately giving novel insight into nuclear material provenance. α-U3O8 was synthesized via the washed uranyl peroxide (UO4) and ammonium uranyl carbonate (AUC) synthetic routes to produce unaged starting materials with different morphologies. α-U3O8 from UO4 is comprised of subrounded particles, while α-U3O8 from AUC contains blocky, porous particles approximately an order of magnitude larger than particles from UO4. For aging, a humidity chamber was programmed for continuous daily cycles of 12 "high" hours of 45 °C and 90% RH, and 12 "low" hours of 25 °C and 20% RH. Samples were analyzed at varying intervals of 14, 24, 36, 43, and 54 days. At each aging interval, crystallographic changes were measured via powder X-ray diffraction coupled with whole pattern fitting for quantitative analysis. Morphologic effects were studied via scanning electron microscopy and 12-way classification via machine learning. While all samples were found to have distinguishing morphologic characteristics (93.2% classification accuracy), α-U3O8 from UO4 had more apparent change with increasing aging time. Nonetheless, α-U3O8 from AUC was found to hydrate more quickly than α-U3O8 from UO4, which can likely be attributed to its larger surface area and porous starting material morphology.

Impact of Controlled Storage Conditions on the Hydrolysis and Surface Morphology of Amorphous-UO3.

The hydration and morphological effects of amorphous (A)-UO3 following storage under varying temperature and relative humidity have been investigated. This study provides valuable insight into U-oxide speciation following aging, the U-oxide quantitative morphological data set, and, overall, the characterization of nuclear material provenance. A-UO3 was synthesized via the washed uranyl peroxide synthetic route and aged based on a 3-factor circumscribed central composite design of experiment. Target aging times include 2.57, 7.00, 14.0, 21.0, and 25.4 days, temperatures of 5.51, 15.0, 30.0, 45.0, and 54.5 °C, and relative humidities of 14.2, 30.0, 55.0, 80.0, and 95.8% were examined. Following aging, crystallographic changes were quantified via powder X-ray diffraction and an internal standard Rietveld refinement method was used to confirm the hydration of A-UO3 to crystalline schoepite phases. The particle morphology from scanning electron microscopy images was quantified using both the Morphological Analysis of MAterials software and machine learning. Results from the machine learning were processed via agglomerative hierarchical clustering analysis to distinguish trends in morphological attributes from the aging study. Significantly hydrated samples were found to have a much larger, plate-like morphology in comparison to the unaged controls. Predictive modeling via a response surface methodology determined that while aging time, temperature, and relative humidity all have a quantifiable effect on A-UO3 crystallographic and morphological changes, relative humidity has the most significant impact.

Quantifying Impurity Effects on the Surface Morphology of α-U3O8.

The morphological effect of impurities on α-U3O8 has been investigated. This study provides the first evidence that the presence of impurities can alter nuclear material morphology, and these changes can be quantified to aid in revealing processing history. Four elements: Ca, Mg, V, and Zr were implemented in the uranyl peroxide synthesis route and studied individually within the α-U3O8. Six total replicates were synthesized, and replicates 1-3 were filtered and washed with Millipore water (18.2 MΩ) to remove any residual nitrates. Replicates 4-6 were filtered but not washed to determine the amount of impurities removed during washing. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was employed at key points during the synthesis to quantify incorporation of the impurity. Each sample was characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), and SEM with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). p-XRD was utilized to evaluate any crystallographic changes due to the impurities; HRSEM imagery was analyzed with Morphological Analysis for MAterials (MAMA) software and machine learning classification for quantification of the morphology; and SEM-EDS was utilized to locate the impurity within the α-U3O8. All samples were found to be quantifiably distinguishable, further demonstrating the utility of quantitative morphology as a signature for the processing history of nuclear material.