A wide applicaton of high-power braking x-radiation and electron beams is obstructed at present by the absence of compact, screened, inexpensive and reliable generators capable of producing an electron energy of ∼1·5 MeV and a dose rate to objects a few centimeters in size of ∼10⁷ A/kg. This paper presents results from experiments carried out on an X-ray generator with an accelerating voltage of up to 1·8 MV, which meets the above requirements in performance.