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Following the electroreduction of uranium dioxide to uranium in LiCl-KCl eutectic in situ using synchrotron radiation

Brown, LD; Abdulaziz, R; Jervis, R; Bharath, VJ; Atwood, RC; Reinhard, C; Connor, LD; ... Shearing, PR; + view all (2015) Following the electroreduction of uranium dioxide to uranium in LiCl-KCl eutectic in situ using synchrotron radiation. Journal of Nuclear Materials , 464 pp. 256-262. 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.04.037. Green open access

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Abstract

The electrochemical reduction of uranium dioxide to metallic uranium has been investigated in lithium chloride–potassium chloride eutectic molten salt. Laboratory based electrochemical studies have been coupled with in situ energy dispersive X-ray diffraction, for the first time, to deduce the reduction pathway. No intermediate phases were identified using the X-ray diffraction before, during or after electroreduction to form α-uranium. This suggests that the electrochemical reduction occurs via a single, 4-electron-step, process. The rate of formation of α-uranium is seen to decrease during electrolysis and could be a result of a build-up of oxygen anions in the molten salt. Slow transport of O2− ions away from the UO2 working electrode could impede the electrochemical reduction.

Type: Article
Title: Following the electroreduction of uranium dioxide to uranium in LiCl-KCl eutectic in situ using synchrotron radiation
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.04.037
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.04.037
Language: English
Additional information: © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1471638
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