The application of nuclear technology refers to non powered civilian nuclear technology, also known as isotope and radiation technology. It is a discipline that uses isotopes or radiation generation devices to release various types of radiation and interact with substances. By analyzing or utilizing various physical, chemical, biological and other effects generated by the interaction with substances, it is then used for many practical applications to explore nature and benefit humanity.



Currently, the United States prioritizes nuclear technology as one of the 22 major technological development directions, and the annual output value of the nuclear technology application industry has maintained a proportion of 4% to 5% of the total output value of the US national economy, ranking first in the world in terms of industrial scale.

The annual output value of Japan and Europe's nuclear technology application industry accounts for 2% to 3% of their total national economic output value.

Current Development Status of Ray Generation Devices

Radiation generation devices are mainly used in non-destructive testing and radiation processing in the industrial field, radiation disinfection and sterilization in the medical field, production of radioactive medical isotopes, cancer treatment, and radiation breeding in the agricultural field.

Electron accelerator

Electron accelerators are mainly composed of linear electron accelerators and high-pressure accelerators.

The energy of accelerators used for irradiation processing and sterilization is generally 5-10 MeV, the energy range of accelerators used for non-destructive testing is generally 2-16 MeV, the energy range for cancer treatment is 6-20 MeV, and the energy of electron linear accelerators used for isotope production needs to reach 30-50 MeV.

Low power accelerators widely used in X-ray photography and medical treatment must be distinguished from high-power linear accelerators suitable for material irradiation (usually limited to 10 MeV energy).

Electronic therapy accelerator

The energy of electron linear accelerators for radiotherapy is mostly between 6 and 20 MeV, among which the accelerator with 6 MeV energy is the most widely used model.

The international market size is approximately 5-6 billion US dollars per year, and is expected to grow by about 30% in the next five years.

With the rapid development of information technology and digital imaging technology, related radiotherapy products require electron accelerators to have high dose rates and high stability. In some cases, miniaturization, adjustable energy, and flash therapy research are also needed.

Electron linear accelerators for irradiation and non-destructive testing

The electron linear accelerator used for irradiation usually adopts a radio frequency acceleration structure, with an energy of 2-10 MeV and a beam power of generally 10-150 kW.

In the field of non-destructive testing, electron accelerators are the mainstream equipment for generating high-energy X-rays, with energies ranging from 0.5 to 15 MeV.

The high-energy and high-power single cavity multi acceleration structure irradiation accelerator technology developed by Belgian company Yibia is at the forefront of the world; L-3 Company and others in the United States have developed a self shielding S-band high-energy electron linear accelerator irradiation device; Triumf Laboratory in Canada has developed a 30~60 MeV/100 kW electron irradiation accelerator for the development of radioactive isotopes and research on radiation effects.

The United States is still the most advanced country in the world in the research and equipment development of high-energy industrial CT technology. Due to technological sensitivity, non-destructive testing accelerators and their industrial CT with radiation energy higher than 2 MeV are still strictly prohibited by developed countries as high-tech exports.

Electron high-pressure accelerator for irradiation

This type of accelerator generally accelerates electrons with an energy of no more than 6 MeV and is mainly used for material irradiation modification and flue gas desulfurization and denitrification. The main types include high-frequency and high-voltage (Denami) type and insulated core transformer type.

The United States, Russia, Japan and other countries have developed a series of products with different energies and powers. In addition, in recent years, a new type of electronic industry accelerator - the petal shaped accelerator - has emerged, which has the advantages of adjustable energy, continuous wave, and high beam power.

Proton/heavy ion accelerator

Proton and heavy ion accelerators are mainly used for cancer treatment and radioactive isotope production.

Proton and heavy ion radiotherapy accelerators

Proton and heavy ion radiotherapy has become a research hotspot in the international field of radiotherapy due to their advantages in Bragg peak and biological effects.
The proton accelerators used for cancer treatment in the 70-250 MeV energy range are mainly of two types: synchrotron accelerators and cyclotron accelerators. Currently, more than 73% of proton radiotherapy equipment in commercial applications internationally use cyclotron accelerator schemes.

Accelerator for the production of medical radioactive isotopes

Medical nuclide manufacturing accelerators mainly rely on proton cyclotron accelerators.

More than 1500 cyclotrons worldwide are used for medical isotope production, with most of them concentrated below 20 MeV, mainly for producing short lived isotopes for positron emission computed tomography (PET).

Since the 1980s and 1990s, more than 20 international manufacturers have successively developed medical small cyclotrons.

Isotope production accelerators with energies ranging from 50 to 100 MeV are mostly present in nuclear physics laboratories, providing beam production of medical isotopes in addition to basic research.

Canada and the United States have also developed 35-50 MeV high current electron accelerators to produce 99Mo.

Boron neutron therapy (BNCT) accelerator

At present, the world's first hospital specific strong current cyclotron BNCT system based on 30 MeV/1 mA is the first to be put into use in Japan. In addition, multiple countries are conducting BNCT research and development activities based on high current accelerators.

The accelerators used for BNCT are mainly high current proton linear accelerators and high-pressure proton accelerators with a voltage of 2-3 MeV/10 mA or above, and high current proton cyclotron accelerators with a voltage of 10-30 MeV/1 mA or above.

Neutron generator

In terms of compact neutron generators, the high-power coaxial compact neutron generator developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States has achieved neutron yields of 1011 n/s and 1013 n/s for deuterium deuterium (D-D) and deuterium tritium (D-T) reactions, respectively, representing the world's highest level of compact neutron generators.

The LBNL laboratory in the United States has achieved a neutron yield of 1014 n/s and an average lifespan of over 4000 hours.