Applications of Low Energy Accelerators in China

In recent years, low energy accelerators has been rapidly developed for medical and industrial applications. This paper presents the current applications of accelerators for radiotherapy, electron-beam irradiation processing, production of radioactive isotopes, electronbeam coal-fired flue gas treatment, container inspection for customs and radiography. There are about 600 sets of electron linacs used for radiotherapy in China. There are about 70 accelerators used for irradiation processing with a total electron-beam power of about 3300 KW. More than 10 kinds of radioactive isotopes are produced with cyclotrons and a proton linac for use in PET and other radioactive clinical treatment methods as well as diagnosis. Many experiments have been developed for removing SO2 and NOx from coal-fired flue gas, including a model plant with a capacity of 300,000 NM/h flue gas. 14 sets of domestically manufactured container inspection systems with electron linacs as radiation sources have been installed at seaports and about 20 sets of electron linacs are used for radiography.