The ceric-cerous dosimeter and degraded energy spectra in industrial gamma irradiators

To assess the magnitude of possible errors due to significant dose from the degraded energy spectrum in an irradiator (AECL Ltd.), dosimeters containing total cerium concentrations differing by a factor of five were irradiated together in standard cartons during normal irradiation sterilization runs. It was found that within a run there was no significant difference between the mean dose of the two normal composition dosimeters and the dose received by the dosimeter containing five times the total cerium concentration. It was concluded that there was no significant error in dosimetry due to absorption of the degraded energy spectrum components in materials irradiated in the AECL irradiator when the dose was estimated by ceric-cerous solutions normally used for the 2.5 Mrad range. (U.K.)