On the redox reactivity of doped UO2 pellets – Influence of dopants on the H2O2 decomposition mechanism

The reactivity of doped UO2 such as SIMFUEL, Y2O3 doped UO2 and Y2O3/Pd doped UO2 towards H2O2 has been shown to be fairly similar to that of pure UO2. However, the oxidative dissolution yield, i.e. the ratio between the amount of dissolved uranium and the amount of consumed H2O2 is significantly lower for doped UO2. The rationale for the observed differences in dissolution yield is a difference in the ratio between the rates of the two possible reactions between H2O2 and the doped UO2. In this work we have studied the effect of doping on the two possible reactions, electron-transfer and catalytic decomposition. The catalytic decomposition was studied by monitoring the hydroxyl radical production (the primary product) as a function of time. The redox reactivity of the doped pellets was studied by using MnO4- and IrCl62- as model oxidants, only capable of electron-transfer reactions with the pellets. In addition, the activation energies for oxidation of UO2 and SIMFUEL by MnO4- were determined experimentally. The experiments show that the rate of catalytic decomposition of H2O2 varies by 30% between the most and least reactive material. This is a negligible difference compared to the difference in oxidative dissolution yield. The redox reactivity study shows that doping UO2 influences the redox reactivity of the pellet. This is further illustrated by the observed activation energy difference for oxidation of UO2 and SIMFUEL by MnO4-. The redox reactivity study also shows that the sensitivity to dopants increases with decreasing reduction potential of the oxidant. These findings imply that the relative impact of radiolytic oxidants in oxidative dissolution of spent nuclear fuel must be reassessed taking the actual fuel composition into account.