ABSTRACT
Recently, investigation of advanced shielding materials to be used as an alternative to lead apron has become important. In the current study, MgO loaded into PVC matrix as a non-lead modern shielding composite was modeled to evaluate its performance on radiation protective clothing (RPC). Parameters such as mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), mean free path (MFP), flux buildup factor (FBF), transmission factor (TF) and lead equivalent value (LEV) of samples were calculated using MCNPX Code. The simulation of the MCNP code was validated, by comparing the mass attenuation of concrete sample, with standard XCOM data and very good agreement was attended between XCOM and MC Code results. The MAC of nano and micro-sized samples were also compared with pure PVC and it was found that the nano MgO particle exhibits higher attenuation compared to micro MgO particle and pure PVC. The results show that, the MAC of samples increased to 63.13 % in 1.332 MeV with increasing filler concentration of nano MgO to 50 wt% relative to pure PVC. Investigation of LEV shows that nano MgO sample has more effective than Pb in 1.173 and 1.332 MeV gamma ray energy so that it provides 36.46 % and 11.13 % lighter RPC than Pb ones.
ABSTRACT
In this work, flux and neutron dose-equivalent buildup parameters are calculated for six radionuclide point-like neutron sources having broad energy spectrum which irradiate infinite slab-like common shielding materials of beryllium, concrete, iron, graphite, water, and lead, employing the MCNPX code. The description of the buildup factor is made in a straightforward way which is analogous to that of gamma. The parameters are obtained for thicknesses of shield from 0.5 to 10 mean free paths (mfp). The achieved dose-equivalent buildup parameters are parameterized by polynomial expressions. Using this parameterization, one can determine these factors for the desired thickness of shield material and each neutron source.