Helium diffusion in uranium and plutonium oxides

Samples of UO₂, (U,Pu)O₂ and PuO₂ containing up to several 100 at. ppm helium were submitted to thermal annealing in a Knudsen-cell provided with a mass spectrometer. Gas release was measured on line with a great accuracy. In the examined materials helium was created by α-decay of plutonium or laboratory infused at high temperature and high pressure. The selected samples exhibited different types of lattice damage, including reactor burn-up and high α-radiation doses. Analysis of helium release as a function of temperature enabled the elementary diffusion processes to be investigated and the atomic diffusion coefficient to be deduced for a defined state of helium-in-solid. The helium diffusion coefficient has the expression: