This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6217-2.

This work studies the influence of epsilon particles and metallic precipitates, simulated through the deposition of Pd nanoparticles on non-irradiated UO2, on the oxidation of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The presence of Pd nanoparticles favored the reduction by hydrogen of oxidized uranium phases located on the UO2 surface, decreased the oxidation of the UO2 by H2O in the absence of hydrogen, and, in the presence of hydrogen and water vapor, no oxidation of the UO2 by water was detected, contrasting experiments without Pd nanoparticles.

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