Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Ultrasonic-assisted dissolution of U3O8 in carbonate medium

  • Chenxi Hou (College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Mingjian He (College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Haofan Fang (College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Meng Zhang (College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Yang Gao (College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Caishan Jiao (College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Hui He (Department of Radiochemistry, China Institute of Atomic Energy)
  • Received : 2022.05.23
  • Accepted : 2022.09.23
  • Published : 2023.01.25
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Abstract

Ultrasound-assisted dissolution of U3O8 powder in carbonate solution was explored to determine if and how ultrasound act during the dissolution. The variation of U3O8 solid particles and uranyl complexes under ultrasound treatment and magnetic stirring was observed in carbonate media. The results show that the use of ultrasound can increase the solubility and dissolution rate of U3O8 powder than that under magnetic stirring. The crush of U3O8 particles and the reduction of the activation energy (Ea, kJ/mol) of U3O8 dissolution reaction were observed, which both play an important role in the ultrasonic-assisted dissolution of U3O8 in carbonate-peroxide solution. Meanwhile, there is no observation of the ultrasound effect on the distribution of uranyl species and hydrolysis of uranyl complexes during the ultrasound treatment in carbonate-peroxide solution. Although the generation of ·OH radicals under ultrasound (22 ± 2 kHz) was observed, the oxidation of ·OH had little effect on the dissolution of U3O8 in the carbonate-peroxide solution system.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1967219).

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