Quantifying Morphological Features of α-U₃O₈ with Image Analysis for Nuclear Forensics

Area of Science:

• Nuclear forensics
• Materials science
• Analytical chemistry

Background:

• Uranium oxide (U3O8) is a key material in nuclear applications.
• Understanding its processing history is crucial for nuclear forensics.
• Morphological characteristics can provide insights into material origins.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify morphological changes in U3O8 with varying calcination temperatures.
• To establish a method for identifying U3O8 processing history.
• To assess the utility of particle morphology in nuclear forensics.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of alpha-uranium oxide (α-U3O8) at five distinct calcination temperatures.
• Characterization using powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
• Quantitative particle shape and size analysis using MAMA software and statistical comparison (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test).

Main Results:

• Distinct statistical differences in particle attributes were observed across calcination temperatures.
• A minimum of 750 particles were required to differentiate all synthesized temperatures with 99.0% confidence.
• Morphological features were found to be a reliable indicator of processing history.

Conclusions:

• This study presents the first quantitative morphological analysis of U-oxides.
• Morphological particle analysis offers a powerful tool for rapid characterization in nuclear forensics.
• The established framework aids in the forensic analysis of unknown uranium oxide samples.