Abstract
Accurate measurements of 235U enrichment within metallic nuclear fuels are essential for understanding material performance in a neutron irradiation environment, and the origin of secondary phases (e.g. uranium carbides). In this work, we analyse 235U enrichment in matrix and carbide phases in low enriched uranium alloyed with 10 wt% Mo via two chemical imaging modalities - nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) and atom probe tomography (APT). Results from NanoSIMS and APT are compared to understand accuracy and utility of both approaches across length scales. NanoSIMS and APT provide consistent results, with no statistically significant difference between nominal enrichment (19.95 ± 0.14 at% 235U) and that measured for metal matrix and carbide inclusions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 69-74 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Analyst |
| Volume | 146 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 7 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The current work was partly supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration. The FIB-based sample preparation of LEU materials was conducted at the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The APT and NanoSIMS analyses were performed using the facilities at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at PNNL. PNNL is operated by the U.S. DOE under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830. The authors thank Dr Douglas E. Burkes of PNNL for providing fuel samples for analysis. The authors also acknowledge Mr Matthew Athon for providing a technical peer review of the manuscript.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC05-76RL01830 |
| National Nuclear Security Administration |