Colour centre concentrations exceeding 1019/cm3 have been produced in KCl single crystals by irradiation with 5 keV electrons at energy deposition rates of 1020 keV/cm3/sec. The F-centre concentration rises to a peak during irradiation and then decays to a lower equilibrium value. Both this behaviour and the annealing effects observed during intermittent irradiation can be explained by the formation of aggregate centres in the crystal. © 1969.