Oxygen potential of a prototypic Mo-cermet fuel containing plutonium oxide

Miwa, Shuhei; Osaka, Masahiko; Nozaki, Takahiro*; Arima, Tatsumi*; Idemitsu, Kazuya*

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 465, p.840 - 842, 2015/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.06.004

Oxygen potential of a prototypic Mo-cermet fuel containing PuO was experimentally determined. It was shown that the oxygen potentials of Mo-cermet fuel containing PuO were the same as those of pure PuO. It was also confirmed that the gradual oxidation of the Mo matrix occurred only above the oxygen potential of Mo/MoO. It is concluded that the oxidation-reduction behavior of the Mo-cermet fuel can be evaluated individually for each phase of actinides oxide and Mo matrix. Better phase structures of the Mo-cermet fuel for taking full advantage of the oxidation-reduction controllability were suggested by the confinement of the actinides oxide phase with Mo.