On the Role of the Electrical Field in Spark Plasma Sintering of UO.

The electric field has a large effect on the stoichiometry and grain growth of UO during Spark Plasma Sintering. UO is gradually reduced to UO as a function of sintering temperature and time. A gradient in the oxidation state within the pellets is observed in intermediate conditions.

Internal conversion in energy dispersive X-ray analysis of actinide-containing materials.

The use of X-ray elemental analysis tools like energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) is described in the context of the investigation of nuclear materials. These materials contain radioactive elements, particularly alpha-decaying actinides that affect the quantitative EDS measurement by producing interferences in the X-ray spectra. These interferences originating from X-ray emission are the result of internal conversion by the daughter atoms from the alpha-decaying actinides.