Uranium reactions with water vapor. Final progress report

The reaction kinetics and ion microprobe mass analyzer (IMMA) depth-profile data for water-oxygen-uranium reaction is explained in terms of the perfusive-precipitation model. This model is reviewed extensively enough to deal with this interacting, 3-element reaction system. The model, based on simultaneous diffusion and product precipitation, can be applied to several systems in a parameterless fashion. It is applied to the uranium-water reaction in the absence and presence of the oxygen inhibitor. The results of the calculations of the model are compared to the experimental rates and the IMMA depth profiles obtained when /sup 18/O-labeled water is used. The predictions are excellent for the pressure dependence of the rates, the activation energies for both the oxygen-poisoned and oxygen-free reactions, the absolute rates for the oxygen-poisoned case, and the IMMA depth profiles. The prediction of the absolute rate for the oxygen-free case is only within a factor of five due to the approximations made for the thermodynamics of the product layer that fixes the oxygen activity. Comparison of the model to experimental data for other metal-oxidation systems such as iron, silicon, copper, zirconium with oxygen, and thorium with water, is also presented to lend credibility to the modeling technique.