Phl to start using electron beam accelerators

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) will start using electron beam (EB) accelerators next year for agriculture, health and environment.

The Philippine embassy in Ankara said Dr. Lucille Abad of the PNRI visited the Department of Chemistry of Hacettepe University in the Turkish city recently in preparation for the establishment of an EB facility in the Philippines this year.

A 2011 Dangal ng Bayan awardee, Abad completed her Ph.D. program in nuclear engineering and management at the University of Tokyo.

To build up the PNRI’s capability for EB radiation processing applications, Abad visited the Hacettepe University’s Polymer Group which is under the supervision of Prof. Olgun Güven.

Applications in health, agriculture and environment benefit from the changes in material properties created by electron beam accelerators.

While the group at Hacettepe University is focused essentially on basic researches, PNRI, as an agency of the Department of Science and Technology, concentrates to the development of the technology for specific applications in accordance with the country’s science and technology objectives.