The pretreatment of waste-activated sludge (WAS) by electron beam irradiation was studied in order to improve anaerobic sludge digestion. The irradiation dose of the electron beam was varied from 0.5 to 10 kGy. Batch and continuous-flow stirred tank reactors (CFSTRs) were operated to evaluate the effect of the electron beam pretreatment on anaerobic sludge digestion. Approximately 30-52% of the total chemical oxygen demand (COD) content of the WAS was solubilized within 24 h after electron beam irradiation. A large quantity of soluble COD, protein, and carbohydrates leached out from cell ruptures caused by the electron beam irradiation. Volatile fatty acids production from the irradiated sludge was approx 90% higher than that of the unirradiated sludge. The degradation of irradiated sewage sludge was described by two distinct first-order decay rates (k(1) and k(2)). Most initial decay reaction accelerated within 10 d, with an average k(1) of 0.06/d for sewage sludge irradiated at all dosages. The mean values for the long-term batch first-order decay coefficient (k(2)) were 0.025/d for irradiated sewage sludge and 0.007/d for unirradiated sludge. Volatile solids removal efficiency of the control reactor fed with unirradiated sewage sludge at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 d was almost the same as that of the CFSTRs fed with irradiated sludge at an HRT of 10 d. Therefore, disintegration of sewage sludge cells using electron beam pretreatment could reduce the reactor solid retention time by half.