International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Research Applications and Utilization of Accelerators
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FOREWORDThe IAEA has responded to Member States needs by implementing programmatic activities that provide interested Member States, particularly those in developing countries, forums to exchange information on new trends and applications in accelerator-based nuclear science and technology. Accelerator-based technologies are regarded by many Member States as a key element to serve social and economic development in a wide variety of applications in the energy, health, agriculture, environment, materials, natural resources and education sectors. Almost all of the more than 18 000 particle accelerators in the world today are dedicated machines used for commercial applications, being either in the medical sector (radiotherapy treatments) or in the industrial sector (materials modification). Only a few percent (a few hundred) of the worldwide inventory of accelerators is used for scientific research, mainly at universities, research institutes and international organizations. However, the knowledge and technological spin-offs gained from these research accelerators drive the development of commercial applications and support the research and development needs of researchers in a wide and diverse range of fields, including strategic and applied research, safety and security, environment, materials, analytical services, advanced nuclear fuel cycles, radioisotope production and radiation processing. The ongoing benefits afforded by accelerators derive principally from their ability to adapt to and keep pace with evolving changes in user demands. The trend in advanced countries is to utilize accelerators in a dedicated and optimized way to support a few specific high technology application areas. The main demand from researchers is for high quality X ray, neutron and ion beams to engage in cutting-edge research in energy, food and agriculture, biology, medicine and materials science. The enhancement of nuclear science education and research in all Member States, but in particular the developing countries, is of interest to the IAEA since many of these countries are building up their scientific infrastructure but are lacking in sufficient numbers of highly educated and qualified persons. History has demonstrated that establishing and maintaining well-supported programmes of scientific research is a very effective means of stimulating and developing talented researchers and knowledgeable educators. Many Member States are thus increasing investments in accelerator-related technologies to boost their research and manpower capabilities. Accelerators offer a broad spectrum of activities in applications of nuclear science and technology, providing an effective tool for the education, training and qualification of tomorrow’s nuclear professionals. The IAEA has previously held accelerator applications conferences in 2001 in São Paulo, Brazil and in 2005 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The present conference was held in cooperation with the American Nuclear Society (ANS) which has organized the series of accelerator applications conferences known as AccApp. The ANS series of topical meetings has provided a forum for the global exchange of scientific and technical knowledge on a wide variety of accelerator related topics since the first AccApp conference in 1997 in Albuquerque, USA. This publication is the non-edited proceedings of the conference and its satellite meetings. The IAEA wishes to express its appreciation to all chairpersons and co-chairpersons of sessions and to those who presented the papers and posters for their contributions to the technical success of the conference, as well as to all of the authors of the papers included in these proceedings.
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