The electrical conductivity of Y-doped perovskite-type ceramics, BaCe0.9Y0.1O3−δ, implanted with 10keV H2+ ions, was measured in situ under fission reactor irradiation. An increment in the electrical conductivity, termed radiation-induced conductivity, was observed with increasing ionizing dose-rate. The radiation-induced conductivity for a specimen H-implanted at 1.1kGy/s and irradiated at 473 to 673K, was higher by about 4 orders of magnitude than the baseline conductivity without radiation (0Gy/s) and was about 2 orders of magnitude higher than that without H. The radiation-induced conductivity was attributed to electronic excitation as well as to H enhanced diffusion. The radiation-induced conductivity depended greatly upon the irradiation temperature, but was insensitive to fast-neutron fluences ranging from 3.3 x 1023 to 7.4 x 1023/m2. The results showed that the radiation-induced defects, produced by neutron collisions, and radiolysis had no influence upon the electronic or protonic conduction.

Radiation Enhanced Diffusion of Hydrogen in Perovskite-Type Oxide Ceramics under Reactor Irradiation. B.Tsuchiya, T.Shikama, S.Nagata, K.Toh, M.Narui, M.Yamazaki: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2007, 367-370[2], 1073