Radiolysis of aqueous solutions of ammonium bicarbonate over a large dose range

Oxygen-free aqueous solutions of 0.05 mol dm-3 ammonium and sodium bicarbonate were studied after receiving various doses of 60Co gammas (0.01–400 kGy) or 0.5–20 Gy pulses of 10 Mev electrons. Formate and oxalate were found to be the main radiolytic products, in addition to trace amounts of formaldehyde and an unidentified polymer. A large initial yield of formate in the γ-radiolysis, G(HCOO–)=2.2, is…