Influence of light ion irradiation of the oxide layer on the oxidation rate of zircaloy-4: Irradiation of the post-transition oxide layer

Abstract

The oxidation rate of Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding in nuclear reactor strongly increases at high burnups. This kinetics acceleration could be in large part due to the irradiation damage. The irradiation effect of the post-transition oxide layer on the Zircaloy-4 corrosion rate has been investigated using protons. As previously observed on pre-transition oxide layer, irradiation defects increases the oxidation rate of the alloy up to around 30 days in autoclave in agreement with the irradiation defect annealing characterized by Raman spectroscopy. The model proposed in previous works is able to describe the oxidation rate after irradiation of post-transition oxide layers.