Thermodynamic Analysis of the Carbothermal Synthesis of (U, Pu)N

Abstract

Thermodynamic modeling was performed to study and evaluate the behavior of the physicochemical system characteristic of the carbothermal synthesis of uranium and plutonium mononitrides. The chemically equilibrium system compositions were calculated for different temperatures, pressures, and nitrogen amounts in the system using HSC Chemistry 7.1 and TeDy programs. The change in the Gibbs energy was calculated for a series of possible reactions, and the equilibrium constants of the chemical reactions were calculated from this quantity. The reactions were evaluated thermodynamically using the equilibrium constants and their temperature dependences.