Remediation of polluted waters and wastewater by radiation processing

Application of radiation processing for drinking water, wastewater, and groundwater treatment is a cost effective process which may insure adequate availability of that resource worldwide. This paper summarizes the results of a Coordinated Research Project (organized by the IAEA) with participants from 10 countries with the purpose of describing the degradation mechanism of organic impurities, and establishing optimal treatment conditions. Decoloration, disinfection, microbiological and toxicological experiments are also mentioned. These experiments led to pilot plants and also to a large scale industrial realization of radiation technology.