Nondestructive Method for the Determination of the Ratio O/U in Sintered Pellets

摘要

The aim of the work described was to set up a nondestruc¬tive method for the determination of 0/U ratio in UO2 ceramic fuels. For this purpose, emf measurements of solid electrolyte cells have been exploited. Two types of cells have been used:(l) Cu, Cu2O/ZrO2- • CaO/Ni, N10, (2) Ni, N10/ZrO2 • CaO/UO2+X and emf measurementa as a function of temperature have been x performed. The former has been used for the calibration of the Ni, N10 reference electrode. The latter has been used to measure the partial molar-free energy of oxygen in equilibrium with UO2+X. Finally the optimum temperature range for the best reproducibility of the measurements was determined to be 750 to 8500