Food and agricultural products are treated with ionizing

radiation to accomplish different objectives like reduction

of pathogenic bacteria and parasites that cause food borne
diseases and lengthening the shelf-life of fresh fruits and
vegetables by minimising the normal biological changes
associated with growth and maturation processes, such as
ripening or sprouting. Radiation processing of food has
become important due to mounting concern over food
born diseases, and growing international trade in food
products that must meet stiff import standards of quality
and quarantine. ARPF is planned to be a facility where
apart from regular radiation processing of agricultural
products, various issues like proper irradiation techniques,
packing, handling and storage on large scale and
economics of radiation processing will be studied and
optimized. The facility will be operated in electron (10
MeV) as well as photon mode (5 & 7.5 MeV). The above
accelerator will deliver pulsed electron beam of 10 s
with a peak current up to 300 mA at various repetition
rates up to 300 Hz. The product handling system is
designed to process the products in different packing size
with thickness varying up to 50 cm (electron and X ray
modes) and to deliver dose up to 10 kGy. The dose
delivered to the product can be controlled by controlling
the scan rate of the beam over it. So it was required to
have variable ramp-up time for the magnet field. Also to
have a control over scanning width of the product the
amplitude of the magnet current must be controlled, hence
a variable current control was required.

Accelerators have applications in agriculture, industry,

medicine, security, environmental protection and related
research.
Major applications of electron
accelerators
Radiation therapy
Food preservation and hygienisation
Sterilization of medical products
Cross linking of cable insulation
Cargo screening and radiography

Development of Electron Accelerator based Agricultural and Industrial

Radiation Processing Facilities

A 5-10 MeV electron accelerator based irradiation facility for food and
agricultural products in Sabzi Mandi (Vegetable Market), Indore.
A radiation processing facility for development of irradiation applications.

Food irradiation

Exposing food to controlled levels of ionizing radiation for beneficial effects

Radiation processing can be applied to
Enhance hygienic quality by killing harmful bacteria or pests in food
Reduce food losses caused by insect infestation, microbial spoilage and
physiological changes
Quarantine required for export of certain food items like mango.
Advantage of accelerator based irradiation plant
There is no radioactive material in the plant (like Cobalt
60)
Radiation can be switched off

Indian Regulations on Food Irradiation

Government of India permits radiation processing by:
1. Electron beam - energy up to 10 MeV
2. X-rays generated by electron beam of energy up to 5 MeV
Limit on absorbed dose :
The overall average dose should not exceed 10 kGy.
Government has approved radiation processing of 14 items/groups like:

Benefits:

Increase in shelf life of vegetables and fruits

Increased export potential
Trans shipment time
Availability of an alternate technology for food
preservation
ARPF:

Foods and agricultural products are treated with ionizing radiation to accomplish different
objectives like reduction of pathogenic bacteria
and parasites that cause food borne diseases;
or lengthening the shelf-life of fresh fruits,
vegetables by decreasing the normal biological changes associated with growth
and maturation processes, such as ripening or sprouting.

Radiation processing of food has become important due to mounting concern over food
born diseases, and growing international trade in food products that must meet stiff import
standards of quality and quarantine.
A 10 MeV, 10 kW Linear accelerator based electron beam radiation processing facility
is being set up at RRCAT. The Linac has been developed by RF Section. For more details,
refer to webpage of RF Section. ARPF is planned to be a demonstration facility where
apart from regular radiation processing of agricultural and medical products, various issues
like proper irradiation techniques, packing, handling and storage on large scale and
economics of radiation processing will be studied and optimized. The facility will be
operated in electron (10 MeV) as well as photon mode (5 & 7.5 MV).
The electron beam will be scanned in a vacuum chamber to obtain 1.2 m wide radiation
field. The product handling system is designed to process the products in different packing
size with thickness varying from 8 cm to 45 cm and to deliver dose from 60 Gy to 25
kGy. Typical mass throughputs are 22 tons per hour for potatoes (5 MV Photon mode)
and1.8 tons per hour for spices (10 MeV electron mode). The conveyor has speed range of
0.15 m/min to 15 m/min. The facility has various safety interlocks to ensure safe operation.
A computer based control system is designed for the facility to ensure proper processing
of the product.
An experimental product handling system has been made to conduct various
experimental trials on different products for establishing parameters.
ITER-India
India is developing the heaviest and the largest parts of the Tokamak, the
machine behind the biggest scientific collaboration on the planet, to produce
unlimited supplies of cheap, clean, safe and commercial energy from atomic
fusion.

The international nuclear fusion project known as ITER, meaning "the way" in
Latin, is based on the 'tokamak' concept of magnetic confinement, in which
the plasma is contained in a doughnut-shaped vacuum vessel.

The fuel-a mixture of deuterium and tritium, two isotopes of hydrogen-is

heated to temperatures in excess of 150 million degrees Celsius forming a hot
plasma.

The temperature within the gigantic machine will, therefore, reach 10 times
the temperature at the core of the Sun.

Strong magnetic fields will be used to keep the plasma away from the walls.

India will be one of the significant creators of the Tokamak which will weigh
23,000 tons-as heavy as three Eiffel Towers-with a plasma volume of 840
cubic metres.

The main feature of the 180 hectare ITER site in Cadarache, southern France,
is a man-made level 42 hectare platform that would be 1 kilometre long and
400 metres
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)