| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Actinides and Rare Earths Focus Topic | Thursday Sessions |
| Session AC+AS+MI-ThM |
| Session: | Nuclear Power and Waste Remediation |
| Presenter: | Wigbert Siekhaus, Lawrence Livermore National Laboraatory |
| Authors: | J. Siekhaus, Lawrence Livermore National Laboraatory A.J. Nelson, Lawrence Livermore National Laboraatory C.K. Saw, Lawrence Livermore National Laboraatory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Uranium carbide inclusions are common in metallic uranium, and uranium carbide itself is being used or being considered as a fuel in both gas-cooled, liquid metal cooled, and supercritical water-cooled reactors. To the best of our knowledge the only study of optical properties deals with high temperature radiance. [1] Here we first characterized a uranium carbide cube (supplied by Oak Ridge National Laboratory) with sides of approximately 3 mm length by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy and then measured its optical properties with an ellipsometer at angles of incidence between 65 and 75 degrees, and over an energy range from 1.26 to 3.2eV. The signal strength was low over that energy range, and too low to be useful above 3.2eV. The measured ∆ and Ψ were converted to the dielectric constants ε1 and ε2 shown in the table below using a general oscillator model [2].
|
E, eV |
ε1 |
ε2 |
E, eV |
ε1 |
ε2 |
E, eV |
ε1 |
ε2 |
|
1.26 |
-1.96 |
5.07 |
1.95 |
-0.30 |
2.73 |
2.61 |
2.61 |
1.32 |
|
1.33 |
-1.69 |
4.77 |
2.02 |
-0.21 |
2.55 |
2.68 |
2.68 |
1.21 |
|
1.40 |
-1.47 |
4.45 |
2.10 |
-0.12 |
2.34 |
2.75 |
2.75 |
1.07 |
|
1.47 |
-1.25 |
4.14 |
2.18 |
-0.03 |
2.18 |
2.83 |
2.83 |
0.94 |
|
1.54 |
-1.06 |
3.87 |
2.25 |
0.04 |
2.02 |
2.91 |
2.91 |
0.85 |
|
1.61 |
-0.89 |
3.63 |
2.32 |
0.12 |
1.87 |
2.98 |
2.98 |
0.76 |
|
1.69 |
-0.73 |
3.44 |
2.40 |
0.20 |
1.73 |
3.05 |
3.05 |
0.67 |
|
1.76 |
-0.60 |
3.23 |
2.47 |
0.28 |
1.59 |
3.12 |
3.12 |
0.58 |
|
1.84 |
-0.48 |
2.95 |
2.54 |
0.35 |
1.43 |
3.20 |
3.20 |
0.51 |
Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, LLNL-ABS-670149
[1] D. Manara, F. De Bruycker, K. Boboridis, O. Tougait, R. Eloirdi, M. Malki, High temperature radiance spectroscopy measurements of solid and liquid uranium and plutonium carbides, J Nucl Mater, 426 (2012) 126-138.
[2] R. Synowicki, J.A. Woollam CO. Inc. 645 M Street, Suite 102, Lincoln, NE 68508-2243, USA