Kinetic investigation of the hydrolysis of uranium hexafluoride gas.

UF 6 is commonly employed in enrichment technologies and is known to react rapidly with water vapor to form radioactive particulates and hydrofluoric acid vapor. The kinetics of the UF 6 hydrolysis reaction have been observed directly for the first time. The rate appears to be half order and second order for UF 6 and water, respectively, with a rate constant of 1.19 ± 0.22 Torr -3/2 s -1 . The proposed mechanism involves formation of the [UF 6 ·2H 2 O] adduct via two separate reactions.