Radiotracer and sealed source techniques continue to be widely used in various industries to achieve better control of production processes, to improve process efficiency, to enhance product quality and quantity and to verify the information obtained by other methods.

Industrial process tomography can provide detailed information on the density distribution of designated cross sections of a chemical reactor. Gamma transmission tomography is currently used by developers and manufacturers of chemical process systems to measure the spatial density distribution inside processing vessels or pipelines.

However, development of a standard industrial tomographic scanner for in-situ applications is complex...The development of portable/transportable tomographic imaging systems using radioisotope sources will in future be significant as an indispensable diagnostic tool for industrial processes and systems.

The single photon emission computed tomography technique, which is largely used in nuclear medicine, is soon likely to be used for diagnosis of industrial reactors. The information obtained from SPECT will be more reliable and specific than that from other methods...

Nuclear techniques provide useful tools for plant breeders and play a significant role in crop improvement. Applications of nuclear techniques in this area include mutation induction for increasing germplasm variability using gamma rays, X-rays and fast neutrons; label- ling of nucleic acids used as probes for genetic fingerprinting, mapping and marker assisted selection; and mutagenesis for the analyses of gene function.

Induced mutations created by gamma rays, X-rays, fast neutrons or chemicals have led to major successes in plant breeding. Beneficial mutants have been selected and us- ed by plant breeders for over 50 years... a mutant rice cultivar (VND95-20) with high quality and tolerance to salinity has been released in Vietnam and is one of the five top export rice varieties, occupying 28 per cent of the one million hectare export rice area in the Mekong Delta. The salt tolerant rice cultivar target area for Bangladesh, India, Philippines and Vietnam alone is estimated at 4.3 million hectares.

Deciphering gene function is now a major objective in genetics. The large amounts of readily available DNA sequence information and induced mutants are becoming key elements in genetic studies as they provide the resources for the systematic discovery and functional analysis of genes.

Targeting induced local lesions in genomes is one example of a technique where mutants for targeted genes can be rapidly identified. This technique is now being applied to rice, wheat and barley and shows significant potential as a method for dissecting the genes that control or influence the valuable traits in diverse crops.

The use and transboundary shipment of sterile insects has so far been excluded from the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 3, “Code of Conduct for the Import and Release of Exotic Biological Control Agents”, of the International Plant Protection Convention because biological control agents were defined as self-replicating organisms.

In April 2005, a revised ISPM 3 entitled “Guidelines for the Export, Shipment, Import, and Release of Biological Control Agents and Other Beneficial Organisms” was approved that explicitly includes sterile insects as beneficial.

In addition, the terms “sterile insect” and “sterile insect technique” were included in the IPPC Glossary of Phytosanitary Terms. This will facilitate the application of SIT in member states and shows that the use of sterile insects as part of the integrated management of plant pests is now inter- nationally recognized under the World Trade Organization’s Agree- ment on the Application of Sanitary and Phyto- sanitary Measures.