Characterizing the relationship between hyperstoichiometry, defect structure and local corrosion kinetics of uranium dioxide

The ability of the UO 2 fluorite structure to accommodate large amounts of interstitial oxygen in various lattice sites leads to the formation of hyper-stoichiometric phases. The defect structures occurring in hyper-stoichiometric UO 2 + x over the range 0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.1 have been characterized by SEM/EDX and Raman analyses. The results demonstrate that as the nominal stoichiometry increases from 2.002 to 2.1, the diversity of defective structures existing on the UO 2 + x surface also increases. Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) measurements combined with a theoretical model were used to determine the rate constant for the reduction of the redox mediator ferrocene methanol, acting as a cathodic oxidant to corrode the four UO 2 + x specimens. The rate constant was found to vary with location on the surface. Stoichiometric locations, with a well defined fluorite structure, exhibited very low corrosion rates. Higher rates were observed at more non-stoichiometric locations with the highest rates being obtained on locations exhibiting tetragonal distortions as their composition approached UO 2.33. The distribution of rates increases with the degree of nominal non-stoichiometry as the diversity of microstructures existing on the UO 2 + x surface increases.