Electrical generators of ionising radiation (generally X-rays) are mainly intended for use in non-destructive structural analyses (tomography, diffractometry, etc.), checks on weld bead quality, or material fatigue inspections (aerospace).

The customs service and armed forces also use them to check containers of goods or in explosion radiography programmes. There are also more specific uses based on radiography for restoration of musical instruments or paintings, archaeological study of mummies or analysis of fossils.

Veterinarians also use these appliances for bone radiography and other common diagnosis procedures.

These appliances are also used for industrial gauging purposes (drum filling measurement, etc.) working on the principle of X-ray attenuation.

Unlike equipment used in the medical field, there is no CE marking obligation allowing free circulation of these appliances throughout the European Union.

Finally, certain applications require the use of particle accelerators which produce photon or electron beams.

The inventory of particle accelerators in France, whether linear (linacs) or circular (cyclotrons and synchrotrons), comprises about 50 installations which can be used in a wide variety of fields, as presented in table 1 below.