PXRD characterization of uranium and plutonium peroxide and hydroxide phases of interest for MOx fuel preparation

In order to develop alternative pathway for the synthesis of uranium and plutonium oxide mixture for MOx fuel preparation and to evaluate the behavior of representative surrogate systems for spent nuclear fuel, several conversion processes are under study. Among them, the hydrothermal processes of uranium and plutonium peroxide conversion and the hydroxide pathway are considered as promising methods to achieve these objectives. The aim of this proposal will be to achieve the crystallographic characterization of some compounds of interests for these syntheses methods.
On the one hand, the structures of the actinide(IV) peroxide phases are still poorly identified and require advanced characterization. The actinide oxide obtained thanks to hydrothermal methods would also need characterization. On the other hand, the uranium/plutonium phases obtained thanks to hydroxide route of coprecipitation require high resolution characterization to identify the potential formation of solid solution.