Tandem accelerators in Romania: Multi-tools for science, education and technology

An educated selection of the main beam parameters - particle type, velocity and intensity, can result in a cutting-edge scalpel to remove tumors, sanitize sewage, act as a nuclear forensics detective, date an artefact, clean up air, improve a microprocessor, transmute nuclear waste, detect a counterfeit or even look into the stars. Nowadays more than particle accelerators operate worldwide in medicine, industry and basic research. For example the proton therapy market is expected to attain 1 billion US$ per year in 2019 with almost 330 proton therapy rooms, while the annual market for the ion implantation industry already reached 1.5 G$ in revenue [1,2]. A brief history of the Tandem Accelerators Complex at IFIN-HH [3] emphasizing on their applications and the physics behind the scenes, is also presented [4-6].