Radiation Inactivation of Bio-hazards Using High Powered Electron Beam Accelerators

Radiation technology has emerged as an effective tool for decontamination of biohazards. It has been instrumental in improving the quality of human life through its proven effectiveness in sterilization of medical and healthcare products, and also for improving food safety. Over the years this technology has been primarily based on using gamma radiation sources like Co-60 as the radiation source. However, the emerging concerns regarding the safety and security of radioactive sources coupled with issues related to shipping such materials through normal supply chain process have encouraged industry to look for machine based electron beam radiation sources in future. To bring out the full potential of electron beams in these areas related to treatment of biohazards, it is important to establish a number of factors that include the kinetics of inactivation which is complicated on account of the variety of radiation sources, their dose rates, and energies as well as because of differences in the nature of microbes and their environment. This Coordinated Research Project (CRP) relates to establishing the kinetics of inactivation of microbes at high dose rates so as to use electron beam technology for inactivation of biohazards.