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Abstract
Samples of pure single crystals of NaC1 and of a natural rock salt were simultaneously gamma-irradiated at an approximate constant dose rate (15 kGy/h) and a constant temperature (100°C) and for different lengths of time, resulting in integrated doses ranging from 0.02 to 44.6 MGy. Microstructural analysis showed that both incipient deformation structures and very advanced recovery structures develop during irradiation. This shows that gamma-irradiation does not only cause dislocations to develop, but also to migrate and interfere. It is also shown that Na-colloids do not only develop attached to dislocations, but migrate, accumulate and annihilate together with them. Microstructural criteria are established to distinguish between three different types of colloid-depleted areas that develop with increasing irradition: a) bleached areas produced by dislocation rearrangement and migration; b) bleached areas produced by diffusion along the dislocation rearrangements; and c) (in polycrystals) white areas produced by migration of wet (brine containing) high-angle boundaries.