The effects of high dose rates of ionizing radiations on solutions of iron and cerium salts
The electron beam generated by a 15 MeV linear accelerator has been employed to induce reactions in aerated aqueous solutions of 1 to 25 mM ferrous sulphate, and of 0⋅1 to 1 mM ceric sulphate. The radiation was delivered in pulses of 1⋅3 μ s duration and over a range of dose rates from 0⋅5 to 20000 rads/pulse. Radiation yields at constant dose rate were compared with the aid of a chemical dose monitor. A system of two thin, widely spaced, irradiation vessels was employed to determine the variation of yield of any one system over successive known ranges of dose rate. The yield of ferric sulphate in the iron system was found to decrease with increasing dose rate in the range 0⋅01 to 10 krads/pulse by an overall factor of 0⋅85, and was appreciably dependent on the initial concentrations of dissolved oxygen and of ferrous sulphate at high dose rates. Yields of hydrogen and of hydrogen peroxide were practically independent of dose rate. The observations have been interpreted on the basis of inter-radical reactions which occur when the reaction zones of neighbouring clusters overlap. The following reactions can account for all the data: OH + Fe 2+ → Fe 3+ + OH ¯ , (1) H + O 2 → HO 2 , (2) H + OH → H 2 O. (7) The values k 1 / k 7 = 0⋅0062, and k 2 / k 7 = 0⋅22 are reasonably consistent with the observations. In the ceric sulphate system the yield of cerous sulphate increases progressively over the range 0⋅01 to 10 krads/pulse by an overall factor of 1⋅4. The data accord with the view that at high dose rates OH radicals react with them selves ultimately to form hydrogen peroxide, in competition with their normal reaction with cerous sulphate.