Gamma irradiation of cultural artifacts for disinfection using Monte Carlo simulations.

In this study, it has been investigated the disinfection of Korean cultural artifacts by gamma irradiation, simulating the absorbed dose distribution on the object with the Monte Carlo methodology. Fungal contamination was identified on two traditional Korean agricultural tools, Hongdukkae and Holtae, which had been stored in a museum. Nine primary species were identified from these items: Bjerkandera adusta, Dothideomycetes sp., Penicillium sp., Cladosporium tenuissimum, Aspergillus versicolor, Penicillium sp., Entrophospora sp., Aspergillus sydowii, and Corynascus sepedonium. However, these fungi were completely inactivated by gamma irradiation at an absorbed dose of 20kGy on the front side. Monte Carlo N Particle Transport Code was used to simulate the doses applied to these cultural artifacts, and the measured dose distributions were well predicted by the simulations. These results show that irradiation is effective for the disinfection of cultural artifacts and that dose distribution can be predicted with Monte Carlo simulations, allowing the optimization of the radiation treatment.
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