The effect of irradiation on slip band formation and growth and microcrack initiation behavior under low cycle fatigue in SUS316L austenitic stainless steel was investigated using accelerator-based proton irradiation and a low cycle fatigue test at room temperature in air. The mean space of the slip line in proton-irradiated specimens was 25-40% wider than that in unirradiated specimens under the same number of cycles, possibly due to localized deformation by proton irradiation. The microcrack initiation life of the proton-irradiated specimens was approximately 20% of that of the unirradiated specimens. While the microcrack initiation in the unirradiated specimens was observed at the grain boundary, twin boundary, slip band, and triple junction, that in the proton-irradiated specimens was observed only at the twin boundary and slip band, possibly due to irradiation hardening. The step-height of an extrusion near the microcrack was almost the same in the unirradiated and proton-irradiated specimens regardless of the initiation site (100-150 nm). Therefore, the microcrack initiation was considered to occur when the surface morphology change involving the extrusion exceeded the specific threshold value.