A review of the corrosion and pyrophoricity behavior of uranium and plutonium

Influence of superficial oxidation on the pyrophoric behaviour of uranium hydride and uranium powders in air

“…A commonly accepted representation of ignition is based on a balance between heat generated by oxidation of a sample and heat lost through transfer to the surroundings. So parameters such as specific area, oxygen supply or characteristics of heat exchanges may have an influence on the ignition temperature [11]. Models have been proposed to quantify this balance between heat generation and heat loss [5,6,11].…”

Review of oxidation rates of DOE spent nuclear fuel : Part 1 : nuclear fuel.

“…7,8,9,15,18,30,36,41,44,45 The work was motivated by the need to understand the corrosion behavior of uranium stockpiles in the weapons programs during interim storage. 15,18,30,36,46 Researchers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada contributed over a hundred papers on the subject.…”

“…9,15,18,25,30,36,45 The effect of small traces of oxygen (e.g., between 10 and 1000 vppm at 100°C) were significant, resulting in diminished rates similar to moist air. Hence oxygenated water vapor oxidation was treated in a separate section.…”

“…7,8,9,10,15,18,24,28,29,30,32,33,34,36,40,45 Small amounts of moisture in oxygen (i.e., water vapor) significantly increase the reaction rate of uranium relative to dry oxygen. There are three regions of behavior: (a) at low relative humidity (<1-2%RH), the reaction rate strongly increases with increasing water vapor, (b) at intermediate relative humidity (2-90%RH), the reaction rate is essentially independent of vapor pressure and oxygen pressure for oxygen pressure above 1.33 kPa, and (c) at high relative humidity (>90%RH), the reaction rate increases as the one-fifth power of the vapor pressure increases (p 1/5 ), but this weak pressure dependence is lost in the data scatter.…”

“…45 Bennett, et al investigated the oxidation kinetics of unirradiated and irradiated uranium metal with 0-1200 ppm aluminum and 0-390 ppm iron. The uranium metal was irradiated in Magnox reactors at metal temperatures between 390 and 450°C to a maximum burnup of 9100 MWd/tU.…”