Method to Study the Primary Nucleation for Solid Solution: Application to Uranium-Neodymium Oxalate Coprecipitation

Abstract

Actinides co-precipitation is currently investigated in order to synthesize solid solutions of actinides mixed oxalates. This paper deals with the thermodynamic and kinetic study of the precipitation of uranium-neodymium oxalate system. Based on an analysis of the theories developed in the literature, a new expression for the determination of the super-saturation ratio for the solid solutions is presented. An experimental study of the nucleation kinetics was performed on the mixed uranium-neodymium oxalates. Homogeneous and heterogeneous primary nucleation laws are obtained using a specific stopped flow apparatus. The experimental results are consistent with the classical behaviour of nucleation phenomena. The values of the kinetic parameters for the solid solution point out that the formation of the uranium-neodymium mixed oxalates is kinetically favoured compared with the simple uranium and neodymium oxalates.