Calculations of the transport of neutrons and secondary gamma rays through concrete for incident neutrons in the energy range 15 to 75 MeV

Abstract

Earlier work by Alsmiller et al. considered coupled neutron and secondary-gamma-ray transport through a thick shield of silicon dioxide with 5% water by weight for neutron sources with energies of 50, 100, 200, 300 and 400 MeV. In that work, the approximation was made that gamma rays were produced only by neutron capture. In the present work, coupled neutron and secondary-gamma-ray transport through a thick shield of concrete for neutron sources with energies of 15, 25 and 75 MeV is considered. In this study, gamma-ray production for all interactions involving neutrons with energies up to 15 MeV was included; i.e., the approximation made here is that gamma-ray production can be neglected for interactions by neutrons with energies > 15 MeV. For incident neutron energies of 15, 25, 50, and 75 MeV, results of total and gamma-ray dose equivalents are given as a function of depth into the slab. For the 50- and 75-MeV incident neutron energies, the gamma-ray dose equivalent was found to be no more than 5% of the total dose equivalent at all depths considered (⩽ 1500 g/cm 2). For the 15- and 25-MeV incident neutron energies, however, the gamma-ray dose equivalent dominates at greater depths into the slab. A conservative estimate of the effect of including gamma rays produced in interactions with neutrons of energies > 15 MeV indicates that the calculated total dose equivalent would increase by no more than 5%.