• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권9호
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• pp.3470-3477
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• 2022

Soils are porous materials with high shielding capability to attenuate gamma and X-rays. The disposal of radionuclides throughout the soil profile can expose the living organisms to ionizing radiation. Thus, studies aiming to analyze the shielding properties of the soils are of particular interest for radiation shielding. Investigations on evaluating the shielding capabilities of highly weathered soils are still scarce, meaning that additional research is necessary to check their efficiency to attenuate radiation. In this study, the radiation shielding properties of contrasting soils were evaluated. The radiation interaction parameters assessed were attenuation coefficients, mean free path, and half- and tenth-value layers. At low photon energies, the photoelectric absorption contribution to the attenuation coefficient predominated, while at intermediate and high photon energies, the incoherent scattering and pair production were the dominant effects. Soils with the highest densities presented the best shielding properties, regardless of their chemical compositions. Increases in the attenuation coefficient and decreases in shielding parameters of the soils were associated with increases in clay, Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, and TiO₂ amounts. In addition, this paper provides a comprehensive description of the shielding properties of weathered soils showing the importance of their granulometric fractions and oxides to the attenuation of the radiation.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.363-371
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• 2019

In this study, physical properties of normal concrete, magnetite concrete, EAF concrete, and EAF concrete with added iron powder were evaluated and a feasibility of radiation shielding is also evaluated through irradiation tests against X-rays and gamma-rays. While the unit weight of EAF concrete (3.21 t/㎥) appeared lower than that of magnetite concrete (3.50 t/㎥), the results in compressive strength of EAF concrete were greater than those in magnetite and normal concrete. While the radiation transmission rate of normal concrete reaches 26.0% in the X-ray irradiation test, only 6.0% and 9.0% of transmission rate were observed in magnetite concrete and linear relationship with unit volume weight and radiation shielding. In the gamma-ray irradiation test, the performance of EAF and magnetite concretes appeared to be similar. Through the results on the excellent physical properties and radiation shielding performance a potential applicability of EAF concrete to radiation shielding was verified.

• 한국융합학회논문지
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.87-94
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• 2021

의료기관의 방사선 차폐체의 차폐물질이 친환경소재로 변화되면서 기존 납의 일반된 차폐특성보다 차폐물질의 특성에 따른 방사선 방어가 중요한 요소로 대두되고 있다. 납과 유사한 차폐물질로 대표적인 텡스텐과 황산바륨은 친환경 소재로 시트나, 섬유 형태로 제작되어 사용되고 있다. 이테르븀은 치과 방사선영역에서 불투과성 물질로 불소화합물로 사용되었으며, 에너지대별 차폐특성과 기존 친환경소재의 차폐특성과 비교하여 x-선 차폐영역에서 차폐성능을 평가하고자 한다. 동일한 공정과 조건하에 세 종류의 차폐시트를 제작하여 실험하였으며, 의료방사선 영역에서 텅스텐과 약 5 % 차폐성능 차이가 나타났으며, 황산바륨보다 우수한 차폐성능을 보였다. 차폐시트의 단면 구조에서는 인자의 배열이 일정하지 못하는 큰 단점을 보였다. 따라서 산화이테르븀은 의료방사선 차폐물질로 충분한 가능성을 보였으며, 입자배열 구조와 입자크기 조절로 차폐성능을 향상시킬 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

• 한국콘크리트학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국콘크리트학회 1998년도 가을 학술발표논문집(II)
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• pp.251-257
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• 1998

Concrete is considered to be one of the excellent and versatile shielding material and is widely used for the radiation shielding materials. This paper aims to study mechanical properties of concrete by using normal cement, natural and heavyweight aggregate and their radiation shielding effects through radiation transmission tests.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권5호
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• pp.1642-1651
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• 2021

In this study, isophtalic neopentyl glycol polyester (NPG-PES) based composites with different loading ratios of pure tungsten metal (W), tungsten (VI) oxide (WO₃), tungsten boron (WB) and tungsten carbide (WC) composites were prepared as alternative shielding materials for ionizing electromagnetic radiation (IEMR) shielding. Structural characterizations of the composites were done. Gamma spectrometric analysis of composites for 80-2000 keV energy range was performed and their usability as IEMR shielding was discussed. As a result, the produced composites showed a shielding performance of 60-100% of the lead (the most widely used IEMR shielding material) depending on the reinforcement material, reinforcement loading rate and experimental conditions. Thus, it was reported that produced composites could be an alternative to lead shieldings that have several disadvantages as toxic properties, difficulty of processing and inelasticity.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제48권4호
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• pp.184-196
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• 2023

Background: Radiation protection is crucial in various fields due to the harmful effects of radiation. Shielding is used to reduce radiation exposure, but gamma radiation poses challenges due to its high energy and penetration capabilities. Materials and Methods: This work investigates the radiation shielding properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) samples containing different weight fraction of tungsten carbide (WC), tungsten trioxide (WO₃), and tungsten disulfide (WS₂). Parameters such as the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Z_eff), and macroscopic effective removal cross-section for fast neutrons (Σ_R) were calculated using the Phy-X/PSD software. EpiXS simulations were conducted for MAC validation. Results and Discussion: Increasing the weight fraction of the additives resulted in higher MAC values, indicating improved radiation shielding. PVDF-xWC showed the highest percentage increase in MAC values. MFP results indicated that PVDF-0.20WC has the lowest values, suggesting superior shielding properties compared to PVDF-0.20WO₃ and PVDF-0.20WS₂. PVDF-0.20WC also exhibited the highest Z_eff values, while PVDF-0.20WS₂ showed a slightly higher increase in Z_eff at energies of 0.662 and 1.333 MeV. PVDF-0.20WC has demonstrated the highest Σ_R value, indicating effective shielding against fast neutrons, while PVDF-0.20WS₂ had the lowest Σ_R value. The Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport version 5 (MCNP5) simulations showed that PVDF-xWC attenuates gamma radiation more than pure PVDF, significantly decreasing the dose equivalent rate. Conclusion: Overall, this research provides insights into the radiation shielding properties of PVDF mixtures, with PVDF-xWC showing the most promising results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권9호
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• pp.3058-3067
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• 2021

Sodium zinc borate glasses doped with dysprosium and modified with different concentrations of barium oxide (0-50 mol %) were fabricated using the melting quenching technique. The structural properties of the prepared glass systems were characterized using XRD and FTIR methods. The absorption spectra of the prepared glasses were measured to determine their energy gap and their related optical properties. The density of the glasses and other physical parameters were also reported. Additionally, with the help of Photon Shielding and Dosimetry (PSD) software, we investigated the radiation shielding parameters of the prepared glass systems at different energy values. It was found that an increase in the density of the glasses by increasing the concentration of BaO significantly improved the gamma ray shielding ability of the samples. For practical results, a compatible irradiation set up was designed to check the shielding capability of the obtained glasses using a gamma ray source at 662 keV. The experimentally obtained results strongly agreed with the data obtained by PDS software at the same energy. These results demonstrated that the investigated glass system is a good candidate for several radiation shielding applications when comparing it with other commercial shielding glasses and concretes.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.20-28
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• 2018

Background: Heat energy produced in nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel cycle facilities interactions modifies the physical properties of the shielding materials containing water content. Therefore, in the present paper, effect of the heat on shielding effectiveness of the concretes is investigated for gamma and neutron. The mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic numbers, fast neutron removal cross-section and exposure buildup factors. Materials and Methods: The mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic numbers, fast neutron removal cross-section and exposure buildup factors of ordinary and heavy concretes were investigated using NIST data of XCOM program and Geometric Progression method. Results and Discussion: The improvement in shielding effectiveness for photon and reduction in fast neutron for ordinary concrete was observed. The change in the neutron shielding effectiveness was insignificant. Conclusion: The present investigation on interaction of gamma and neutron radiation would be very useful for assessment of shielding efficiency of the concrete used in high temperature applications such as reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권5호
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• pp.1519-1526
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• 2023

For the first time Aluminium-BariumeZinc oxide nanocomposite (ZABONC) was synthesized by solution combustion method where calcination was carried out at low temperatures (600℃) to study the electromagnetic (EM) (X/γ) radiation shielding properties. Further for characterization purpose standard techniques like PXRD, SEM, UV-VISIBLE, FTIR were used to find phase purity, functional groups, surface morphology, and to do structural analysis and energy band gap determination. The PXRD pattern shows (hkl) planes corresponding to spinel cubic phase of ZnAl₂O4, cubic Ba(NO₃)₂, α and γ phase of Al₂O₃ which clearly confirms the formation of complex nano composite. From SEM histogram mean size of nano particles was calculated and is in the order of 17 nm. Wood and Tauc's relation direct energy band gap calculation gives energy gap of 2.9 eV. In addition, EM (X/γ) shielding properties were measured and compared with the theoretical ones using standard procedures (NaI (Tl) detector and multi channel analyzer MCA). For energy above 356 keV the measured shielding parameters agree well with the theory, while below this value slight deviation is observed, due to the influence of atomic/crystallite size of the ZABONC. Hence synthesized ZABONC can be used as a shielding material in EM (X/γ) radiation shielding.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권5호
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• pp.1885-1891
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• 2023

The present work aims to fabricate Na_1+xZr₂Si_xP_3-xO₁₂ compound at various calcination temperatures based on the zircon mineral. The fabricated compound was calcinated at 250, 500, and 1000℃. The effect of calcination temperature on the structure, crystal phase, and radiation shielding properties was studied for the fabricated compound. The X-ray diffraction diffractometer demonstrates that, the monoclinic crystal phase appeared at a calcination temperature of 250℃ and 500℃ is totally transformed to a high-symmetry hexagonal crystal phase under a calcination temperature of 1000℃. The radiation shielding capacity was also qualified for the fabricated compounds using the Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code in the g-photons energy interval between 15keV and 122keV. The impacts of calcination temperature on the g-ray shielding behavior were clarified in the present study, where the linear attenuation coefficient was enhanced by 218% at energy of 122keV, when the calcination temperature increased from 250 to 1000℃, respectively.