Applications of accelerators in industry, medicine, agriculture and environmental protection future trends

The development of atomic physics in forties helped in expanding our knowledge of ionizing radiation and its effects on materials and human body. Following laboratory studies of radiochemical processes and assessment of their economic value, attempts were made to use gamma rays from radioisotopes for irradiation of various products on commercial scale. With the emergence of powerful electron accelerators, their use as radiation source in radiochemical processes, started in late sixties. Due to remarkable development in accelerator related technologies during past two and half decades, it has become possible to construct a tailor made accelerator most suited for a specific application. This in turn has resulted in tremendous advantage in terms of cost of process or quality of process in comparison to conventional techniques. At present more than 10,000 accelerators are being used all over the world in the areas of industry, health care, agriculture and environmental protection