Oxidative dissolution of actinide oxides in H2O2 containing aqueous solution – A preliminary study

Oxidative dissolution of spent nuclear fuel is an important issue in the safety assessment of a future geological repository for spent nuclear fuel. Although UO ₂ constitutes, in terms of mass, the majority of the spent fuel material, its main radiotoxicity is (after extended storage times) contained in actinides with half lives shorter than that of 238-uranium, such as isotopes of Np and Pu. Relatively little information is available on the dissolution behavior of Np and Pu in comparable environments. This work investigates the oxidative dissolution of NpO ₂ and PuO ₂ in non-complexing aqueous solutions containing H ₂O ₂ and compares their behavior with that of UO ₂. We have found that oxidative dissolution takes place for all three actinides in the presence of H ₂O ₂ . Based on the obtained dissolution rates, we would not expect the dissolution of the actinides to be congruent. Instead, in a system without complexing agent, the release rates of Np and Pu are expected to be lower than the U release rate.