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Nuclear power plants that produce sustainable energy are the most striking examples of generating carbon-free energy. However, nuclear power plants demand the safe management of nuclear waste. The radiation tests of the materials, which are used in successful waste management in nuclear power plants, must be carried out. In this study, the radiation interaction parameters were examined of International simple glasses (ISG) with superior properties, used in nuclear waste management. The gamma radiation shielding properties of the (Al:Si) and (Al + Na):Si-dopped ISG glasses were investigated using Photon Shielding and Dosimetry (Phy-X / PSD) software for the selected energy range. LAC, MAC, MFP, HVL, TVL, Zeff, Neff, Ceff Zeq, EBF, EABF and FNRCS calculations were applied to assess the radiation protection parameters by Phy-X/PSD software. In addition, MSP and PR (H1, He+2) values were calculated by SRIM software. Also, each obtained parameter provided us with so important information on radiation protection, and these methods have been used frequently in the literature. Substituting an atomic fraction of (Al:Si) with (Al + Na):Si resulted in a reduction of the total atomic cross-section of the glass, which lowered the MAC. The obtained results showed that the highest MAC value belong to ISG-A00N glass. The MAC value gradually decreased as the Al, Na and Si contents increased. Likewise, the HVL, TVL and MFP values changed coherent with this. Moreover, Zeff and Neff values were seen in the ISG-A00N sample to take the maximum values to each other inversely. The most effective glass sample turned out to be ISG-A00N glass at the mean free path penetration power of MSP and PR values. Computations were made for glasses with SiO2, Al2O3, B2O3, Na2O, CaO and ZrO2 content given with ISG-C, ISG-A00, ISG-A12, ISG-A22, ISG-A00N, ISG-A11N, ISG-A18N and ISG-A23N codes. When all the results were evaluated, ISG-A00N glass which has the highest Si and Ca contents and density was found to be the glass with the best radiation shielding feature. It is also noteworthy that this glass does not contain any Al component. As the results of the investigation, it was found out that such a small doped of the Si increases the radiation shielding feature of the glass. The obtained results have revealed that the ISG-A00N > ISG-A00 > ISG-C > ISG-A12 > ISG-A11N > ISG-A22 > ISG-A18N > ISG-A23N samples, in ascending order that attenuators for low energy radiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the results on survey of exposure buildup factor, photon and neutron shielding parameters for B, C and D series SiO 2 –PbO–CdO-Ga 2 O 3 glasses utilizing MCNPX Monte Carlo code. In order to check out the accuracy of MCNPX results, the computational values of mass attenuation coefficients were confirmed with those of XCOM database in relatively photon energy region of 0.020–20 MeV. The relative deviation between MCNPX and XCOM values is below 10% except for 0B and 2B at 0.060 MeV and 0D and 1D at 0.122 MeV. The gamma ray buildup factors for the three extended glass systems were also determined in a wide energy range of 0.02–15 MeV for penetration depths up to 15 mfp. In addition, some related radiation attenuation parameters have been estimated and deduced that among the selected glasses, C-series sample has best photon shielding performance while being B series glasses the superior materials for neutron, alpha and proton shielding. The results showed that C series glass samples among SPCG glasses have clear advantage in weight decrease in terms of shielding the X- and gamma rays in relatively photon energy region of 0.020–20 MeV. It can be concluded that certain types of glasses which include this kind of mixture may be considered an alternative material for radiation shielding practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, the radiation shielding parameters for two glass systems with composition of 20MgO-(20-x)Al 2 O 3 -57SiO 2 -3B 2 O 3 -xCr 2 O 3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mol%) and Na 2 O-Al 2 O 3 SiO 2 glasses were studied. For this purpose, a scintillation detector namely 3 × 3 inch NaI(Tl) has been designed for detection of photons through MCNPX simulation code. Thus, the mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) and some other gamma shielding quantities were calculated. The estimated MCNPX data of all the glasses were compared and approved with those of WinXCOM program. The gamma ray buildup factors for the two glass systems were also determined in a wide energy range of 0.02–15 MeV for penetration depths up to 15 mfp. The results revealed that the mass attenuation coefficients for the glass samples in the first glass system are higher than those in the glasses in the second system and thus the glasses coded as MASBC have more ability in reducing radiation than NAS glasses. Among the selected glasses, C4 has the largest values of μ ρ and lowest half value layer, and therefore this glass sample has better shielding features than other samples. Besides, 3—1 glass sample has the lowest values; therefore this sample has the least ability to block and reduce the incoming gamma radiation. The results also showed that the effective atomic number (Z eff) of the glasses in the first composition increased with increasing the content of Cr 2 O 3 , and Z eff in the second glass system (i.e. NAS) increased with increasing the Al 2 O 3 content. The values of mass removal cross section for neutron (Σ R) vary between 0.09112 and 0.09163 and 0.08415–0.08710 for the first and second glass system respectively. The obtained results from the present investigation can be useful to understanding of influence of Cr 2 O 3 and Al 2 O 3 additive on nuclear radiation shielding properties of tellurite MgO-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -B 2 O 3 and Na 2 O-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 glasses. • MgO-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -B 2 O 3 (MASBC) and Na 2 O-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 (NAS) glass systems have been evaluated. • There is in good agreement between mass attenuation coefficients estimated through MCNPX code and WinXCOM software. • C4 sample for MASBC and 2-1 and 2-2 samples for NAS glasses have superior radiation shielding performance. • MASBC glasses own outstanding protection capacity to shield gamma, neutron, proton and alpha radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to evaluate not only photon and neutron but also proton and alpha shielding effectiveness of barium bismuth borate glasses doped by CeO 2. The mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) of these glasses have been computed utilizing MCNPX (2.6.0) code in a wide energy range of 0.02–20 MeV and compared with the results of WinXCOM software. Afterwards, some photon attenuation parameters such as half-value layer, (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Z eff), effective electron density (N el), photon transmission factors (TF) and neutron effective removal cross-sections (Σ R) for the cerium oxide substituted barium bismuth borate glasses have been estimated. Using G-P fitting method, exposure buildup factor (EBF) values have been found over the energy range 0.015–15 MeV up to 40 mfp. In addition, Mass stopping power (MSP) and projected range (PR) values have been calculated for proton particles (H1) and alpha particles (He+2). The results exhibit that the density of the glass can be related to the photon and neutron shielding. A10 glass has the highest Σ R values whereas the lowest TF values in gamma and neutron radiation have been observed for A1 sample. A1 and U glasses possess the highest values of Z eff as well as the smallest values of EBF. It can be concluded that A1 and A10 glasses are alternative materials with terms of photon and neutron attenuation, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]