Application of ionizing radiation to environment protection

Radiation technology may contribute to the environmental protection to a great extent. Electron beam industrial installations for flue gases containing SOx and NOx treatment have been already built in China and Poland. The same technology for high sulphur and high humidity off-gases (low quality lignite) has been successfully tested in an industrial pilot plant in Bulgaria. Pilot plant tests performed in Japan have illustrated that by applying electron beam for municipal waste incinerator off-gases treatment the concentration of dioxins can be reduced by 80%, other persistent organic pollutants can be depredated as well. The positive results of electron beam wastewater treatment are the basis for a full-scale industrial plant being built in the South Korea. A pilot gamma plant for sludge irradiation producing a high grade organic fertilizer is in operation in India. All these achievements are reported in this paper.