Kinetic investigation of the hydrolysis of uranium hexafluoride gas

Jason M. Richards, Leigh R. Martin, Glenn A. Fugate, Meng Dawn Cheng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

UF6is commonly employed in enrichment technologies and is known to react rapidly with water vapor to form radioactive particulates and hydrofluoric acid vapor. The kinetics of the UF6hydrolysis reaction have been observed directly for the first time. The rate appears to be half order and second order for UF6and water, respectively, with a rate constant of 1.19 ± 0.22 Torr−3/2s−1. The proposed mechanism involves formation of the [UF6·2H2O] adductviatwo separate reactions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)34729-34731
Number of pages3
JournalRSC Advances
Volume10
Issue number57
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 18 2020

Funding

The authors would also like to thank Dr Lee T. Trowbridge, Harold L. Jennings and Chris P. Boring for contributions to this work and the National Nuclear Security Administration's Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Office of Research and Development for supporting this work.

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