Cultural heritage preservation and conservation of archived materials: gamma radiation processing and characterization at the Calliope facility (Casaccia R.C., Rome - Italy)

The present Technical Report is related to the activities performed at the ENEA Calliope gamma irradiation facility (Casaccia R. C., Rome, Italy) in the framework of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project ‘F23032’-Research Agreement No. 18922/R0 (“Radiation Processing for Bio-Deteriorated Archived Materials and Consolidation of Porous Artefacts”). In particular, the publication is focused on the discussion of the most critical topics related to the application of ionizing radiation on archived materials preservation. The research activities are performed on: i) microbiological investigations to study the effect of dose rate and ambient irradiation conditions on the typical microbes present on archived materials; ii) instantaneous and post-irradiation effects on paper irradiated by gamma radiation using chemical and spectroscopic techniques.

Il presente Rapporto Tecnico riguarda le attività condotte presso la Facility di irraggiamento gamma Calliope (C.R. ENEA Casaccia, Roma, Italia) nell’ambito del IAEA Coordinated Research Project ‘F23032’-Research Agreement No. 18922/R0 (“Radiation Processing for Bio-Deteriorated Archived Materials and Consolidation of Porous Artefacts”). In particolare, la pubblicazione riguarda gli aspetti più critici relativi all’applicazione delle radiazioni ionizzanti per la conservazione ed il trattamento dei materiali archivistici e librari, soggetti ad attacco da parte di organismi bio-deteriogeni. Nel corso delle attività di ricerca, sono stati condotti studi su: 1) analisi microbiologiche in diverse condizioni di irraggiamento; ii) caratterizzazione chimico-fisica degli effetti indotti dalla radiazione gamma sui materiali trattati.