Structural incorporation of europium into uranium oxides

Abstract

AbstractMicroparticulate reference materials with well-defined properties are needed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to consolidate a sustainable quality control system for analytical measurements for particle analysis in nuclear safeguards. In order to further develop analytical methods and quality control of the analytical results from particle analysis to detect even traces of dopants, such as fission products, the microparticulate reference materials must be refined according to the IAEA’s requirements. Due to yield limitations of the microparticles, a co-precipitation method was adapted to synthesize bulk-scale comparison materials doped with lanthanides to unravel the incorporation mechanism of those dopants into the uranium oxide structure in depth. Through TG-DSC studies, the temperature range of phase transitions from UO3 to U3O8 was identified and analyzed in more detail by additional systematic structural investigations of long- and short-range order phenomena with XRD and Raman, and IR, respectively. Graphical abstract