Page 74 - 00. Complete Version - Progress Report IPEN 2014-2016

74 Application of Ionizing Radiations | Progress Report

Figure 45. Large scale radiation processing of books and archive materials at IPEN. (Photo: P. Vasquez/IPEN)
Gamma radiation provides from the cobalt-60 al partnerships: Institute of Brazilians Studies
acts an excellent alternative tool to the tradi- IEB/USP, Afro Brazil Museum, Lina Bo & P.M.
tional preservation process mainly because it’s Bardi Institute, Modern Art Museum – MAM,
biocidal action and can even be used to consol- Mario de Andrade Public Library, Pincacoteca
idate fragile materials. When compared with of the Sao Paulo State, Sao Paulo Cultural Cen-
conventional methods (e.g. chemical gases), ra- ter – CCSP, Public Archive of the Sao Paulo State
diation processing used for cultural Heritage (APESP), Government State Bandeirantes Pal-
disinfection has several advantages mainly re- ace Museum, Butantan Institute Historic Mu-
lated to the safety, efficiency, reliability, capac-
ity, process time and safety for environment.
Constitutive materials including paper, paint-
ings, photographs, films, parchments, leather,
textiles, wood, bones, etc. have been processed
by gamma radiation with excellent results al-
ways respecting the limits of each material.
Remarkable paintings were disinfected by us-
ing this technology from artists such as Anatol
Wladyslaw and Wassily Kandinsky, as well as Figure 46. Nuclear Science and Cultural Heri-
tage in Brazil – IAEA promotional video.
modern Brazilian painters such as Tarsila do
Amaral, Anita Malfatti, Di Cavalcanti, Clóvis
VIDEO 1:
Graciano, Candido Portinari and Alfredo Volpi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePiNdzWjoWM

More than twenty institutions related to con- VIDEO 2:
servation or preservation activities such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvid7KvPPjE
National Museums and conservations Insti-
tutions, conservators-restorers, curators, etc. seum, Historic Museum of the Medical School
have been benefited for this technique and of the Sao Paulo University, Immigration Mu-
currently most of them maintain institution- seum of the Sao Paulo State, Contemporary Art

Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares