Gamma radiation

Patrick Sinco <psinco [at] ans__org> writes

>I am a reporter researching an article on the use of gamma radiation
>to preserve damaged paper documents. I understand that the procedure
>is not widely used in the field of preservation, but would like to
>learn when and how it is used and how well it performs its task....

I am currently involved in a project that utilizes gamma irradiation
to treat mold growth on library books.  It has been shown that
physical removal of the mold growth followed by gamma irradiation
basically sterilizes the books.  The process causes some accelerated
aging of the paper, but that was determined to be an acceptable
trade-off in view of the potential mold hazards.

Kirk Lively
Belfor USA
2425 Blue Smoke Ct. S.
Fort Worth TX 76105


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:46
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 7, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-46-009
                                  ***