History

The use of ionizing radiation for various industrial applications has already been half a century year old process. Among a number of applications, radiation processing of polymers has attracted the largest interest from the relevant industry. The radiation chemistry of polymers has therefore been one of the most intensively studied and developed branches of radiation chemistry.

Seeing the growing scientific and technical interest in this subject, Dr. Alain Le Moël and his collaborators from CEA-Saclay have decided to organize an international meeting titled "Ionizing Radiation and Polymers", IRaP, for the first time in 1994 in Saint-François/Guadeloupe. Since then IRaP was organized every two years in Saint-François (Guadeloupe), Weiböhla (Dresden), Gouvieux (Paris), Saint-Adèle (Montreal) and Houffalize (Belgium). Although IRaP is the youngest international meeting in the field of radiation research and application, it has already been one of the major fora for the exchange and dissemination of information on the effects of ionizing radiation on polymers.