Applicability was studied and previous estimation was done of power X-ray beams generation by backward Compton scattering of a laser photon beam on a cooled down electron beam. The few MeV electron beam circulating in a compact storage ring can be cooled down by interaction of that beam with powerful laser radiation of micrometer wavelength to achieve normalized emittance of 10(-7) m. A tunable X-ray source of photons of energy ranging from few keV up to a hundred keV could result from the interaction of the laser beam with a dense electron beam. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.