IAEA RADIATION TECHNOLOGY SERIES No. 6 IAEA RADIATION TECHNOLOGY SERIES No. 6 TECHNOLOGY IAEA RADIATION Radiation technology has been successfully used in recent years, with participation of museums and libraries, for preservation and consolidation of cultural heritage artefacts. The objective of this book is to provide professionals, including radiation polymer chemists and radiation microbiologists who intend to utilize radiation techniques for cultural heritage conservation, with the essential information that will empower them to interact with stakeholders such as conservators and restorers to encourage wider acceptance and use of radiation processing techniques for conservation and consolidation of cultural heritage artefacts. Uses of Ionizing Radiation for Tangible Cultural Heritage Conservation Atoms for Peace INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA ISBN 978–92–0–103316–1 ISSN 2220–7341 Atoms for Peace USES OF IONIZING RADIATION FOR TANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GEORGIA OMAN ALBANIA GERMANY PAKISTAN ALGERIA GHANA PALAU ANGOLA GREECE PANAMA ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA GUATEMALA PAPUA NEW GUINEA ARGENTINA GUYANA PARAGUAY ARMENIA HAITI PERU AUSTRALIA HOLY SEE PHILIPPINES AUSTRIA HONDURAS POLAND AZERBAIJAN HUNGARY PORTUGAL BAHAMAS ICELAND QATAR BAHRAIN INDIA REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA BANGLADESH INDONESIA ROMANIA BARBADOS IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION BELARUS IRAQ RWANDA BELGIUM IRELAND SAN MARINO BELIZE ISRAEL SAUDI ARABIA BENIN ITALY SENEGAL BOLIVIA, PLURINATIONAL JAMAICA SERBIA STATE OF JAPAN SEYCHELLES BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JORDAN SIERRA LEONE BOTSWANA KAZAKHSTAN SINGAPORE BRAZIL KENYA SLOVAKIA BRUNEI DARUSSALAM KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA BULGARIA KUWAIT SOUTH AFRICA BURKINA FASO KYRGYZSTAN SPAIN BURUNDI LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC SRI LANKA CAMBODIA REPUBLIC SUDAN CAMEROON LATVIA SWAZILAND CANADA LEBANON SWEDEN CENTRAL AFRICAN LESOTHO SWITZERLAND REPUBLIC LIBERIA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC CHAD LIBYA TAJIKISTAN CHILE LIECHTENSTEIN THAILAND CHINA LITHUANIA THE FORMER YUGOSLAV COLOMBIA LUXEMBOURG REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA CONGO MADAGASCAR TOGO COSTA RICA MALAWI TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO CÔTE D’IVOIRE MALAYSIA TUNISIA CROATIA MALI TURKEY CUBA MALTA TURKMENISTAN CYPRUS MARSHALL ISLANDS UGANDA CZECH REPUBLIC MAURITANIA UKRAINE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MAURITIUS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OF THE CONGO MEXICO UNITED KINGDOM OF DENMARK MONACO GREAT BRITAIN AND DJIBOUTI MONGOLIA NORTHERN IRELAND DOMINICA MONTENEGRO UNITED REPUBLIC DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MOROCCO OF TANZANIA ECUADOR MOZAMBIQUE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA EGYPT MYANMAR URUGUAY EL SALVADOR NAMIBIA UZBEKISTAN ERITREA NEPAL VANUATU ESTONIA NETHERLANDS VENEZUELA, BOLIVARIAN ETHIOPIA NEW ZEALAND REPUBLIC OF FIJI NICARAGUA VIET NAM FINLAND NIGER YEMEN FRANCE NIGERIA ZAMBIA GABON NORWAY ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. IAEA RADIATION TECHNOLOGY SERIES No. 6 USES OF IONIZING RADIATION FOR TANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2017 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and considered on a case-by-case basis. Enquiries should be addressed to the IAEA Publishing Section at: Marketing and Sales Unit, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre PO Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 email: [email protected] http://www.iaea.org/books © IAEA, 2017 Printed by the IAEA in Austria November 2017 STI/PUB/1747 IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Names: International Atomic Energy Agency. Title: Uses of ionizing radiation for tangible cultural heritage conservation / International Atomic Energy Agency. Description: Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2017. | Series: IAEA radiation technology series, ISSN 2220–7341 ; no.6 | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: IAEAL 17-01091 | ISBN 978–92–0–103316–1 (paperback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Materials — Effect of radiation on. | Irradiation. | Biological decontamination. | Conservation and cultural heritage. Classification: UDC 620.179.152.5 | STI/PUB/1747 FOREWORD Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artefacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations and maintained for the benefit of future generations. Physical or ‘tangible’ cultural heritage includes works of art, artefacts in museum collections, books, manuscripts, drawings, archive documents, musical instruments, ethnographic objects, archaeological findings, natural history collections, historical buildings and historical places, monuments and industrial heritage objects. Museums today have become important institutions not only for culture, but also for tourism, the economy and national identity. Studying and keeping art objects and other cultural heritage artefacts available, in the best condition possible, for future generations is a significant challenge. The application of scientific methods to art and archaeological materials has a long tradition, and institutions such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Council of Museums — Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have promoted the use of natural science techniques by museum curators and cultural heritage researchers. The IAEA, as a leading supporter of the peaceful use of nuclear technology, has assisted laboratories in its Member States to develop and apply nuclear methods in cultural heritage research for socioeconomic development in emerging economies. Ionizing radiation based techniques are now recognized as important tools for the examination, characterization and analysis of art objects or other cultural heritage artefacts and their component materials. Preservation of existing cultural heritage artefacts continues to pose a serious challenge, as a variety of factors such as improper storage conditions, climate change or adversities like flooding lead to deterioration or loss of cultural heritage worldwide. Both chemical and physical methods have been developed for treatment and restoration of cultural heritage artefacts. However, chemical methods may leave undesirable chemicals, and physical methods generally use extreme conditions which are not suitable for some types of material. The efforts of national and international research programmes dedicated to developing harmonized methodologies for radiation treatment have led to acceptance of radiation technology for treatment of cultural heritage artefacts. The IAEA has also initiated several projects to support the application of nuclear techniques to cultural heritage investigations. This book results from the cooperative work of a group of experts convened by the IAEA in October 2014. The aim of the book is to provide state of the art knowledge on application of radiation technology for disinfection and consolidation. It is addressed to the conservation community (curators, conservators/restorers, registrars, art historians, archaeologists, conservation scientists) active in the various fields of cultural heritage (in museums, libraries, archives, archaeological institutions, historical buildings, conservation workshops) and also to the ionizing radiation community (scientists, engineers and technicians working in various disciplines such as radiation technology, radiation chemistry, environmental technology and radiation biology). The IAEA wishes to thank all the consultants and contributors for their valuable time and their contributions to this manuscript, in particular, C.C. Ponta (Romania) and the late J.B.G.A. Havermans (Netherlands). Mr Havermans’s contribution to this book was of great significance, and the IAEA expresses its appreciation to him. The IAEA also wishes to thank the individual contributors who agreed to share their experiences by contributing individual chapters to make this book more comprehensive. It is hoped that this publication will contribute to wider application of radiation technologies for preserving heritage materials. The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was S. Sabharwal of the Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences. EDITORIAL NOTE Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use. This publication does not address questions of responsibility, legal or otherwise, for acts