Isotopic effect in the radiolysis of water. Diffusion-kinetic modelling up to 300°C

Abstract

Diffusion-kinetic calculations [1-3] have been analysed to determine the isotopic effect in the radiolysis of water with ionising radiation of linear energy transfer characteristics (LET) from 0.2 to 60 eV/nm and at temperatures up to 300°C. This analysis shows that, for low LET radiation, the spur decay of e-aq is slower in D2O and results in a higher yield of e-aq, g(e-aq), at 10-7 -10-6s after the ionisation event. In low LET radiolysis, g(OD) ≈ g(OH) over the whole range of temperature but in high LET radiolysis g(OD) is clearly lower than g(OH). The isotopic effect on the yields of the radical products is enhanced by increasing LET but diminished by increasing temperature. The yields of the molecular products show the opposite isotopic effect to their radical precursors, namely g(D2) is 10-20% lower than g(H2) and g(D2O2) > g(H2O2). A particularly significant difference between g(D2O2) and g(H2O2) has been found at LET = 20 eV/nm. The isotopic dependence of the g-values estimated for fast neutron radiolysis is also presented.