Facing the challenge of predicting the standard formation enthalpies of n-butyl-phosphate species with ab initio methods

Tributyl-phosphate (TBP), a ligand used in the PUREX liquid-liquid separation process of spent nuclear fuel, can form explosive mixture in contact with nitric acid, that might lead to violent explosive thermal runaway. In the context of safety of a nuclear reprocessing plant facility, it is crucial to predict the stability of TBP at elevated temperatures. So far, only the enthalpies of formation of TBP is available in the literature with a rather large uncertainties, while those of its degradation products, di-(HDBP) and mono-(H$_2$MBP}) are unknown. In this goal, we have used state-of-the art quantum chemical methods to compute the formation enthalpies and entropies of TBP and its degradation products di-(HDBP), mono-(H$_2$MBP) in gas and liquid phases. Comparisons of levels of quantum chemical theory revealed that there are significant effects of correlation on their electronic structures, pushing for the need of not only high level of electronic correlation treatment, namely local coupled cluster with single and double excitation operators and perturbative treatment of triple excitations [LCCSD(T)], but also extrapolations to the complete basis to produce reliable and accurate thermodynamics data. Solvation enthalpies were computed with the conductor like screening model for real solvents [COSMO-RS], for which we observe errors not exceeding 22 kJ mol$^{-1}$. We thus propose with final uncertainty of about 20 kJ mol$^{-1}$ standard enthalpies of formation of TBP, HDBP, and H$_2$MBP which amounts to -1281.7$\pm$24.4, -1229.4$\pm$19.6 and -1176.7$\pm$14.8 kJ mol$^{-1}$, respectively, in the gas phase. In the liquid phase, the predicted values are -1367.3$\pm$24.4, -1348.7$\pm$19.6 and -1323.8$\pm$14.8 kJ mol$^{-1}$, to which we may add about -22 kJ mol$^{-1}$ error from the COSMO-RS solvent model. From these data, we predict the complete hydrolysis of TBP to be nearly thermoneutral

Theoretical Study of Plutonium(IV) Complexes Formed within the PUREX Process: A Proposal of a Plutonium Surrogate in Fire Conditions

International audienceWe present a relativistic quantum chemical study to determine the best surrogate for plutonium(IV) to be used in experimental investigations of the behavior of plutonium-nitrate-TBP in fire conditions that might occur in the nuclear fuel refining process known as PUREX. In this study geometries and stabilities of Pu(NO3)62− and Pu(NO3)4(TBP)2 complexes were compared to that of equivalent complexes of selected elements from the lanthanide and actinide series (Ce, Th, U) chosen on the basis of similar ionic radii and stability as tetravalent species. PBE and PBE0 DFT functionals have proven to be sufficient and affordable for qualitative studies, performing as good as the wave function based correlated method MP2. On the basis of our results, cerium(IV) appears to be a good surrogate for plutonium(IV)

Monitoring the fatigue crack on the test specimen during the cyclic loading

The main purpose of this paper is monitoring propagation of plastic area of fatigue crack. There were made notch on specimens and they were cyclically loaded with three-point bending. The record was evaluated after a certain number of loading cycles. The loading force is still constant throughout the measurement time for all specimens. The whole process was recorded using an infrared camera

Localization of delamination in composite test specimen

The main purpose of paper is presented an innovative approach in the field of infrared thermal imaging and its integration into the area of engineering applications. As the test specimen was selected composite rod with lengthwise composite fibers to each bonded. They have been excitated with ultrasound. For obtain the results was used Lock-in method. Last part of the paper is a description of the results and most appropriate settings of measurement technique for applications with chosen material

Atmospheric chemistry of iodine

International audienc

Atmospheric Reactivity of CH2ICl with OH Radicals: High-Level OVOS CCSD(T) Calculations for the X-Abstraction Pathways (X = H, Cl, or I)

International audienc

Quantum chemical prediction of standard formation enthalpies of uranyl nitrates and its degradation products

International audienc

Atmospheric reactivity of iodoalkanes with OH radicals

International audienc

Quantum chemical prediction of standard formation enthalpies of uranyl nitrates and its degradation products

International audienc

Quantum chemical prediction of standard formation enthalpies of uranyl nitrates and its degradation products

International audienc