Behaviour of fission gases in an irradiated nuclear fuel under α external irradiation

The self-α-irradiation could influence the behaviour of nuclear spent fuel in storage conditions. To evaluate some of these effects, a UO2 fuel, irradiated in a PWR, was irradiated with a helium beam at different doses. PIXE measurements of xenon and neodymium concentration on helium irradiated and non-irradiated areas showed that no major difference in the distribution of these fission products occurred due to helium irradiation. From these results, it is concluded that helium irradiation associated with α self-irradiation does not induce significant modification of gaseous fission products in storage conditions.