Nuclear reaction microanalysis: a key for the study of uranium dioxide corrosion mechanisms

Deuteron and/or helium-3 ion microbeams have been used to determine the near-surface composition of uranium dioxide leached in a granitic groundwater and particularly the oxygen depth profile. The use of a ΔE-E telescope allows us to exploit both the backscattering part and the nuclear reaction part of the energy spectra so that the uranium depth profile and the surface O/U ratio of the oxide can be inferred. Nuclear reaction investigation has been completed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements in order to derive simple alteration models. (orig.)