Revisiting the melting temperature of NpO2 and the challenges associated with high temperature actinide compound measurements

This work revisits the melting behaviour of neptunium dioxide, an actinide compound which can be produced in the nuclear fuel during operation, and which has an important impact on the nuclear fuel and waste radioactivity especially on the very long term. The present experimental approach employs remote laser heating under controlled atmosphere and fast pyrometry. This technique circumvents problems encountered by more traditional heating techniques, in particular, the reaction between sample and containment at temperatures beyond 2500 K. In addition, only a small amount of sample material is required, which is an advantage with respect to the radioactivity and limited availability of neptunium. The NpO2 melting/freezing temperature has been measured to be 3070 K ± 62 K, much higher than previous values (around 2830 K) obtained by more traditional thermal analysis methods. The large amount of experimental data collected allowed a consistent statistical analysis. It seems likely, although not fully evident from the present results, that the high oxygen potential at temperatures around melting leads to a slightly hypo-stoichiometric congruent melting composition, as already observed in other actinide (ThO2, PuO2) and lanthanide oxides (e.g., CeO2). Finally, a recently developed phase-field model was used for the simulation of the observed thermograms, allowing a deeper insight in material properties that are difficult to directly measure. For example, a polaron contribution to the high-temperature thermal conductivity, well accepted for the commonly studied actinide oxide UO2, is shown here to likely be present in NpO2.