Epitaxial single crystal thin films of U3Si, U3Si5, α−USi2, and USi3, alongside poly-crystalline U3Si2 have all been synthesised using DC magnetron sputtering. These idealised samples provide the bases on which fundamental studies can be conducted for understanding advanced technology fuel (ATF) candidates: U3Si2, U3Si5. The silicon-rich phases, USi2 USi3 are interest as intermediate oxidation ...

Uranium and plutonium's 5f electrons are tenuously poised between strongly bonding with ligand spd-states and residing close to the nucleus. The unusual properties of these elements and their compounds (e.g., the six different allotropes of elemental plutonium) are widely believed to depend on the related attributes of f-orbital occupancy and delocalization for which a quantitative measure is l...

Cubic fluorite-type phases have been reported in the U(IV)O2-Bi2O3 system for the entire compositional range, but an unusual non-linear variation of the lattice parameter with uranium substitution has been observed. In the current extensive investigation of the uranium(iv) oxide-bismuth(iii) oxide system, this behaviour of the lattice parameter evolution with composition has been confirmed and ...

OBJECTIVES Increased risk of circulatory system diseases (CSDs) was observed in nuclear workers handling uranium and plutonium in Russia and the UK. This work examines the CSD mortality after chronic intake of uranium among 2897 workers (79,892 person-years) at a uranium processing plant (1960-2006) in France. METHODS Cumulative exposure to different uranium compounds, classified by their iso...

Use of sterically hindered ligands to maintain the integrity of normally unstable chemical entities is a widespread technique in modern synthetic chemistry. Bulky aryl and alkyl substituents have been designed to stabilize sensitive compounds, such as main-group-element dimers with multiple bonds, including the alkyne analogues of heavier Group 14 elements. 3] This methodology was recently empl...

Chemistry of the actinide elements represents a challenging yet vital scientific frontier. Development of actinide chemistry requires fundamental understanding of the relative roles of actinide valence-region orbitals and the nature of their chemical bonding. We report here an experimental and theoretical investigation of the uranium methylidyne molecules X3U'CH (X F, Cl, Br), F2ClU'CH, and F3U...

We have shown that a scanning transmission electron microscope with a high brightness field emission source is capable of obtaining better than 3 A resolution using 30 to 40 keV electrons. Elastic dark field images of single atoms of uranium and mercury are shown which demonstrate this fact as determined by a modified Rayleigh criterion. Point-to-point micrograph resolution between 2.5 and 3.0 ...

Significant uncertainty is known to be present in the internal radiation dose assessments for intakes of uranium compounds. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the sources of the uncertainty in the dose assessment and in particular the biokinetic models used to describe the movement of uranium in the body. A variety of numerical and statistical approaches have been used to explore the unc...

OBJECTIVES Uranium processing workers are exposed to uranium and radium compounds from the ore dust and to γ-ray radiation, but less to radon decay products (RDP), typical of the uranium miners. We examined the risks of these exposures in a cohort of workers from Port Hope radium and uranium refinery and processing plant. DESIGN A retrospective cohort study with carefully documented exposures...