Self-irradiation effects in UO 2 and (U,Pu)O 2 accelerated by doping with 238Pu

International audienceIn order to tackle the issue of long term sustainability and safety of nuclear waste management, the new concept of Gen IV fast reactors (FR) has been designed. These new reactor types however require the design and development of completely new materials, including new nuclear fuels (NF), which will be also the component withstanding the most severe irradiation and temperature conditions. The present work aims at improving our knowledge about the behaviour of mixed oxides (MOX) fuels, which represent a crucial step towards the licensing process of those reactors. In particular, the focus of this work is on isolating and quantifying the effect of alpha-radiation damage on the thermal and physical properties of MOX fuels