PHOTON ENERGY LIMITS FOR FOOD IRRADIATION - A FEASIBILITY STUDY

The penetrating nature of the photons produced by the X-ray (bremsstra hlung) process makes them attractive for the treatment of dense materi als in industrial radiation processing. The inefficiency of the conver sion process can be balanced by the exposure of high Z materials to el ectrons with high energy. However, activation of the product being irr adiated and the equipment imposes energy limits. Results of a theoreti cal and experimental study to investigate the key parameters have resu lted in recommendations for the design of X-ray converters in the elec tron energy range 7 to 11 MeV. Results of the Monte Carlo calculations and the methods used in conversion experiments with the 50 kW IMPELA accelerator are reported. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.